Why Don’t We Pray Luke 10:2?

And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. (Luke 10:2; also Matthew 9:38)

Implications of this prayer:

1. There is still a great harvest of souls to be won.

2. There is a perennial lack of laborers. (This infers that God seeks and uses laborers, election does not mitigate such a need, but assures its success!)

3. The Lord does the sending of missionaries.

4. It seems we believers must first pray for God to send, even before volunteering to go!

5. It is always God’s harvest, not ours. 

In my years of hearing and preaching missionary messages, most seemed to revolve around Great Commission challenges. And, of course, who can gainsay such an emphasis? Still, as Jesus himself gave the above command, somehow this too must enter into our philosophy of missions. Through international media coverage and the internet, we see the world more easily today than ever. The immensity of the need is astounding. So it is a boon to our soul to know that we may, indeed must, call upon God to send out those into the world to harvest his crop.

Better Than "The Good Ol' Days"

What's better than "The Good Ol' Days?" It's a Spirit-filled work of God TODAY. But many Christians expect too little today; their expectations are well below what many in the past pursued and even pled to get from God. As C. S. Lewis said, "Christians have been far too easily pleased."

Jeremiah 3:15-16, 

¹⁵‘And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. ¹⁶ And when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, declares the Lord, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again.

My focus here is on the words of verse 16, "When you have multiplied and increased in the land . . . they shall no more say, 'The ark of the covenant of the Lord.'" When God is manifestly doing a genuine, vibrant work Christians do not fall to reminiscing about the “good old days” of revivals past or of their favorite, charismatic preachers. Such memories are a fine thing and worthy of reflection, but not if it’s due to a paucity of spiritual enlightenment today. Israel began to actually prefer Egyptian slavery and deprivation over wilderness freedom if only because it was predictable. To unbelieving Israel, God forsook them in the wilderness. And if he were to be absent there, then why not return to an oppression that at least boasted better onions, leaks and garlic?

We are no different today. People come to church—and if their spirit hasn’t atrophied—still hope to find a vibrant God and virile worship. But the Spirit has been disallowed from so many churches today that spiritual dullness prevents their ability to detect His absence! This is heartrending. We go through the motions of glorifying God, but demean it’s effectiveness at every turn. We come and we go with nary a word from the Lord. We grow accustomed to it, entering the sanctuary with little expectation for anything glorious. It’s one thing to suffer divine silence, quite another to accept it as the norm! What a distressing state to which the church has fallen.

Yet, it was Jeremiah’s word that sounds an opposite and clear invitation. He will provide shepherds whose leadership will ring so true with Spirit-power, that the people will simply forget all the glory days of yore in favor of the awesome presence of God today. 

 

Dominoes & a Half Aborigine

Rest in Two Acts

Act One

We're on vacation in Mechanicsville, Virginia and in a couple of days we'll head with family to Myrtle Beach, SC. One of our pastimes with Phyllis' folks is to play dominos. It is a rather inane game requiring few skills and whose value lies more in the mindless banter that goes on while connecting numbers than it does in pursuing a well thought out strategy. The inanity of the game is only increased by the fact that you can only play what you draw, an action requiring but simple motor skills to pull 14 dominoes mindlessly into a pile in front of yourself. 

OK, so it doesn't take an Einstein. It's not chess! But we have fun! Fun, by the way, depends on your expectations. We expect little. For Phyllis and me, it is also rest from ministry--blessed work indeed. Still, it's rest, switching gears, changing scenery. Another great advantage to this game is that it is not technology-bound; it's as computer free as the old "stick & hoop" days! I love it for that. 

Act Two

We watched the movie "Australia" before we left--as the Brits say-- "on holiday." This recent flick presents an epic sort of story involving a British aristocrat flying to Australia during WW2 trying to make the most of her husband's ranch in the midst of "Death Valley" heat and intense competition "down the road." Vital to the story was the cutest little half-Aborigine, Nullah, disparagingly labeled by racists, a "creamie." This adorable boy from the outback seemed to represent the movie's wise man. Referring to his "witch doctor" grandfather, King George, Nullah said something like, "he hears the song and dreams." For Nullah, hearing songs out in the wild and seeing dream-like visions qualified one as authentically human. I may not have the wording correct, but the message came across loudly to me that it wasn't riches, race, or even genteel civilization that constitutes superiority, but the being able to hear--really hear and truly see. 

POINT? Nullah's medicine-man grandfather lived very simply away from (and aloof to) all the crazy womanizing, money-grabbing of modern civilization. And because of it, he seemed to have a far better handle on how to live life to the fullest. No argument is made here for the Aborigine religion. I am only interested in the seeming freedom of living away from the constant technological, Hollywood-induced ephemera called the "good life." So, let us at least take away from this the all-encompassing biblical truth to "meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still" (Psalm 4:4). Every now and then it is important to step away from the cacophony of schedules and phones and emails and simply look . . . and listen, push a few dominoes around the table . . . and breathe. There is music if one listens hard enough, and a place for dreaming . . . maybe "somewhere over the rainbow?" Ah-h-h . . .  

(Notice I say this while typing away on my MacBook Pro!? Oh, and did I remember to plug in my BlackBerry and iPod to charge them up? What if someone can't get in touch with me? What if I don't return someone's email? How can I live? Someone make it stop!!)

My Indebtedness to Walter Chantry's "Today's Gospel"

Years ago, while still in college (1970-75), I read Today's Gospel by Walter Chantry for the first time. It was a watershed moment in my theological understanding of conversion. This coupled with the many "hand-outs" I received and numerous other Puritan works with which I became familiar have been a spiritual boon to my soul since then. I praise the Lord for directing me to reading these godly men of faith. They have provided an endless source of heart-enriching material.

Now, some 35 years later, after having digested Chantry's book, which has become part of my "spiritual DNA," it has been my privilege to re-read it. The Banner of Truth Trust has reprinted it some 13 times since its first publication in 1970. It is a short treatment (92 pages) of Jesus' method of evangelism which he believes is exemplified in the story of the Rich Young Ruler (Mark 10:17-27). Chantry answers the question put forward in his introduction, "What's Wrong With Evangelism Today?" Curiously, when so many methods rise and fall on the very fashionable "Trend Curve," his assessment of evangelism is quite current and urgently needed. Since I am highly recommending this book as a staple in every Christian's library, let me quote from the back of my copy:

Differences between much of today's preaching and that of Jesus are not petty; they are enormous. The chief errors are not in emphasis or approach but in the heart of the Gospel message. Were there a deficiency in one of the areas mentioned in these pages, it would be serious. But to ignore all--the attributes of God, the holy law of God, repentance, a call to bow to the enthroned Christ--and to pervert the doctrine of assurance, is the most vital mistake.

Walter J. Chantry was born in 1938, graduated from Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania (1960) and Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia (1963). In 1963, Mr. Chantry was ordained to the gospel ministry and became pastor of the Grace Baptist Church of Carlisle, Pa, where he served for 39 years. Since December 2002 he has served as Editor of The Banner of Truth magazine.

Lord willing, I plan to cull a few poignant thoughts from his book and share them in upcoming posts.

Bound by Technology?!

On March 6, Mark Earley, President of Prison Fellowship wrote an insightful and needed commentary for BreakPoint. The principle of Sabbath is too little understood these days in the evangelical camp, and therefore, too little practiced. Read this and see what you think.

Get Unplugged Taking a Sabbath from Technology

Try this experiment: Shut down your computer, turn off your cell phone, unplug your iPod, hide your Blackberry, and click off the television. Then, pick up a book. Read for an hour. When you’re done, pull out a sheet of paper and write a letter. And then, go for a walk outside.

If you find this scenario difficult, you’re not alone. Mark Bittman, writing in the New York Times, describes taking a break from technology for an entire day: “I woke up nervous, eager for my laptop . . . I was jumpy, twitchy, uneven.”

According to a 2005 survey, most Americans—including children—spend at least nine hours a day watching TV, surfing the web, or talking on their cell phones. Of those hours, one-third of the time is spent using two or more of those media at once.

While technology has many worthwhile purposes, it demands a high price from us. Studies have shown that our increasing media dependency is crippling our attention spans, wounding our ability to create meaningful relationships, and generating a false expectation that we should be able to be contacted at every hour of the day.

Katie Dunne, a recent graduate of the University of Illinois, observed that while the Internet has made it easier for her to find information for class, it also made it easier for her fellow students to avoid face-to-face interactions with their professors—and with each other.

She wrote in her school newspaper: “It seems like the more advanced our technology becomes, the more likely we are to withdraw from the real world. The intimacy of conversation and the integrity of relationships are compromised by quick and cold forms of communication.”

But getting away from technology is easier said than done. Many of us couldn’t do our jobs if it weren’t for computers, cell phones, and PDAs. But here’s the problem—when we leave work, technology is following close behind us in a constant stream of text messages, Facebook posts, and emails. We’ve become addicts to the god of information.

So, here’s a challenge—take a technology sabbath.

Joe Carter—editor of the Evangelical Outpost blog—recently began making one day of his week completely technology free.

He writes on Boundless.org: “After drinking from the fire hose of information a day without info tech will seem like a year long drought. But by unplugging the god of Technology you might just find something new in the pause—a still small voice sharing the information that truly matters.”

But like anything worthwhile, taking a break from technology takes practice and patience. Here are some of Carter’s tips on making a technology sabbath worthwhile.

First, make sure to give yourself a full 24 hours, preferably from sundown to sundown. Let people know that you are unplugging, so they understand why you are not responding to them right away. Lastly, dedicate some of the time to practicing spiritual disciplines like prayer, Bible study, and attending a worship service.

In the meantime, meet a friend for coffee. And leave your Blackberry at home. 

Clamor For God's Presence-Sunday!

Do we not long for a refreshing filling of the Spirit of God in our churches? It is certain that God is not finished with his work, and indeed, it is he who said, "I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18). Sometimes we need simply read of such powerful effusions of the Spirit in days gone by to remind us that God may yet pour out his grace today. A favorite reading of mine is from Iain Murray's Revival and Revivalism. The following is taken from the life of Gardiner Spring, pastor of Brick Church, NY City, 1810-1873.

“Sparse clouds of mercy had been hovering over the congregation during the first four years of my ministry . . . and not a few, especially of those in middle life, had been brought into the kingdom of God.

The year 1814 was a year of great labor and deep solicitude. Many a time after preaching did I remain long in the pulpit, that I might not encounter the reproaches of the people of God for my heartless preaching, and many a time, as I left it, has my mind been so depressed that I have felt I could never preach another sermon. But I did not know to what extent the Spirit of God was carrying forward his own noiseless work. . . God was already beginning a precious work of grace among the people. He had taken it into his own hands, and was conducting it is his own quiet way, convincing the church and the world that ‘it is not by might, nor by power, but by his own Spirit,’ as the Author and Finisher of the whole” (pp. 205-206).

May God the Father grant a powerful effusion of his Spirit over this land, in our churches . . . tomorrow!                                                                        

Peterson-"Praying with Eyes Open"

Christians need to be as prepared to meet God in Church as explorers have been to go on expeditions to the North Pole or Mt. Everest. Failure to prepare properly meant certain death in numerous cases. It can as well in worship. In The Contemplative Pastor, Eugene Peterson, citing Annie Dillard, comments on the staggeringly pedestrian style of much of modern day worship: 

The blithe ignorance is frightening: "Why do we people in churches seem like cheerful, brainless tourists on a packaged tour of the Absolute? . . . On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does not one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares: they should lash us to our pews." Explorers unmindful of "conditions" died. Why don't similarly unprepared worshipers perish on the spot?

It's not that Dillard doesn't go to church. She does. Says Peterson, 

She realizes that one can no more go to God alone than go to the pole alone. She further realizes that even though the goal is pure, the people are not pure, and if we want to go the Land we must go with the people, even when they are playing banjos, singing stupid songs, and giving vacuous sermons.

These words may seem harsh. And praise God they are not true everywhere. But evidence speaks for itself, and we mustn't turn away from that, but seek a higher view of God which pulls us away from the little box we have become so accustomed to, a box not invented by God, but man, and too small to allow for the God who is too mysterious to name. Let us not just be amazed, but live amazed, blown away by the wonder of God in nature, in economic recession, and, yes, even (especially) in church!