Into the Shadowlands

I postedthis early last year. I felt like I needed to share it again with you all.

Now they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed. And as they followed they were afraid. Then He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to Him: “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.” (Mark 10:32-34)

From my leadership experience, I have discerned a startling truth – People will willingly follow a good leader almost anywhere except into the valley of the shadow of death. God’s pattern of leadership as revealed in Jesus requires leaders to embrace what feels like a downward spiral into the shadows, into a place where the glory of leadership dissipates completely.

Jesus’ disciples were astounded that He would choose to travel to Jerusalem in the face of imminent danger. His steady movement toward a place of apparent death struck fear to their hearts. Their consternation with Jesus’ travel plans blinded them to see through the valley of the shadow of death to the glorious reality of the resurrection.

Jesus’ disciples had dreams of Jesus being a king like David. In their minds, not only was Jesus destined to be a king, but they were poised to have leading roles in this emerging glorious kingdom. Therefore, Jesus’ journey into the shadow lands of death caused a great deal of consternation in them. They needed Him to establish a kingdom, to be the monarch of the new Jewish superpower.

In the context of Jesus’ journey into impending death, in the context of their fear, James and John came to Jesus asking for positions of power in the empire that they were certain that Jesus would establish. (Read Mark 10:35-37). It was as if they were reminding Jesus that He had a responsibility to establish the new Jewish superpower.

Jesus’ experience with His disciples mirrors much of my own experience. People will follow a leader as long as the leader is building something magnificent. They deeply desire to be a part of something grandiose.

For leaders seeking validation from the people they lead, it becomes easy to never make the journey into the valley of the shadow of death due to the expectations of those being led. To not complete the leadership journey, however, will negate the leader from engaging with God’s pattern for leadership. Consequently the Kingdom of God is never established through that leader.

It is important to note that Jesus’ own journey into the shadow lands was the prelude to resurrection power. God was establishing His kingdom through Jesus. Even so today – leaders must journey to the shadow lands of death to discover a new and fresh authority and life.

From my own experience I can tell you that any leader who makes the journey into death and the cross will probably not be popular. Throughout the years of leading and being a catalyst in the emergence of God’s Kingdom on earth, I have experienced the resistance that comes from the demonic hordes seeking to destroy the new things God was bringing forth. However, the greatest resistance I have received on my walk with God occurred when I intentionally followed God into the valley of the shadow of death.

Many of the people I have led consistently applied pressure on me to abandon the journey into “nothingness” regardless how much I tried communicate with them the power (and the Jesus pattern) of the journey into “nothingness”. Beyond the pressure from people, my own desire for significance was compounded by the voices of the enemy encouraging me to choose a less threatening path to resurrection life. (Which, incidentally, does not exist).

For the past number of years, the gentle whisper of heaven, the voice of the Father, has invited me to choose the way of the valley of the shadow of death, to enter a place that seems and feels insignificant. I have chosen to resolutely heed the invitation, knowing that in all likelihood, I would find myself not on some grandiose stage, but in the shadows of the world and the church.

However, I have found some diamonds in the place of darkness. In the shadow lands I have found that the barrier between heaven and earth are minimal. In the shadow lands, I experience the kiss of the Father for an extended period. His kiss has sustained me in my resolution to press ahead. In the shadow lands, I discover God as my friend. I become acutely aware of the invitation to participate with Him in the redemption of creation.

Press on to Jerusalem; it is the way of God. Purpose to enter the valley of the shadow of death as God invites you to do so. To grasp at our dreams of greatness will cause us to miss the point, to miss resurrection life.

The work of God

I am overwhelmed at times that God desires me to be involved deeply in His work in the world today. His invitation moves me from being a spectator to being a participant, not as some insignificant pawn in His hand but as a partner. Paul, in his letter to the church at Corinth, understood the invitation.

Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

The invitation of God is to a ministry of reconciliation. As we reconcile people to God, they discover abundant life. This ministry of reconciliation is not some ethereal concept but a practical lifestyle. People get lost. They wander away from God, heeding the allure of the self-god. As they
give ear to the self-god, they become even more lost until all that they can hear is the enemy of their soul speaking through the self-god.

Our ministry is to bring people back to God in a practical way. The ministry of reconciliation requires us to become deeply involved with people. Bringing people to abundant life cannot be done from a distance. The example of Jesus coming to earth to live with us points to the deeply interactive nature of this ministry. God immersed Himself in our world, living among us. He felt what we feel, experienced the suffering we suffer so that He might reconcile us to the intended relationship with God. (Again - I am not talking about a theoretical relationship but a practical interaction with Him).

In the same way, if we are to be involved with God in His work of reconciling people to Himself, then we have to get involved with people. We must interact with broken, wounded people; people whose sin repulses the religious. Our interaction with them cannot be from a position of superiority based on our goodness. Our attitude must be one of humility born from the realization of our own tendencies toward sin. I had a man ask me why I pursued him. I replied that someday I might need him to pursue me.

For far too many years, I wanted to reconcile people to God from a distance. I wanted the recognition that I was working with God but I was unwilling to draw close to those who needed reconciliation. A number of years ago, God began to show me that while we had started churches, while we looked successful as defined by secular success, in reality, we never really discipled people. We didn't participate with God in His redemptive work on a heart level. When we started Grace Covenant Church, we built our house in a wooded area that the base of a mountain. One purpose for choosing that location was that I wanted to get away from people when I was not preaching/teaching. I wanted to be involved in the ministry of reconciliation from a distance.

Fortunately, God has been gracious with me. He gave me another chance to become involved with reconciling people to Himself. For the past several years, we have had the privilege of interacting with broken people, people who have gotten lost. We have seen the process of reconciliation begin to affect their lives. We've seen them discover God and life. We've cried together, eaten together, and shared our stories together. When we have experienced breakthrough, we've celebrated together. In the process, God's work of reconciliation affected us as well, drawing us closer to Him, restoring us to a partnership with Him

Spiritual warfare

I have been thinking about spiritual warfare a good deal lately. Let me preface my thoughts with my own experiences. I have been involved with what we call spiritual warfare exercises most of my life. I have gone on prayer walks, prayer drives, and have prayed at "strategic" locations. I have rebuked evil, spoke truth, and made declarations.

When I look at spiritual warfare in the life of Jesus, I see another aspect of spiritual warfare. The Bible never tells us about the content of the conversations between the Father and Jesus in those times when Jesus went to the mountain to pray. Maybe Jesus prayed that principalities would be bound, that truth would be released, but it is never recorded. What is recorded is the spiritual warfare that took place as Jesus interacted with individual people. Jesus perceived that an evil spirit bound a man that could not speak, He cast the demon from the man. When a Peter spoke from his human intellect and became a mouth-piece for the evil one, Jesus rebuked Him. When a woman was brought to Him that was caught in the act of adultery, Jesus spoke words to release her from the curse of condemnation.

It seems to me that Jesus engagement in spiritual warfare occurred primarily in the life of individual people. He plundered the enemy by freeing people from bondage by His words and by His interaction with them.

In my own life, the most intense spiritual struggles and battles occur as I interact with people heart to heart, as I get involved in their mess. Tearing down strongholds in the minds of people can be intense at times. On the other hand, seeing freedom and life come to people in a practical way is exhilarating as well.

Might it be that we would rather pray over a geographic area than get involved with the people in that area. Might it be that we would rather rebuke the evil one than show people how to live by interacting deeply with them? Is it possible that we would rather proclaim from afar instead of engaging with broken people?

Rest?

And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested (literally - to cease from exertion) on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

It's Sunday morning. I am sitting at the kitchen table, listening to two different kinds of music. I have my favorite old hymn (Great is Thy Faithfulness) playing on the computer. The door to the deck is open and I can hear at least three different kinds of birds. I slept in this morning, not worried about the demanding voice of the alarm clock. In my place between sleep and wake, I sensed the presence of God caressing me. I made some coffee a little earlier and I am still enjoying what's left of it. I am resting. My heart feels full, full of gratefulness toward God, full of joy, full of life.

I wonder for how many people, this morning was restful. I wonder for how many was it stressful. I have four children and can understand the stress that families undergo on a Sunday morning. We want to rest but the alarm clock demands that we start the day. We push the snooze button for five more minutes of pillow time. Suddenly we realize that we better get out of bed and get going. Somehow that extra five minutes mysteriously cause us to be at least fifteen minutes behind schedule. We feel the first tentacles of stress beginning to squeeze us. We pick up the pace which in turn causes a bit of frustration with other family members who seem to not have the same sense of urgency. Our frustration spills out on them. Within minutes the frustration level in the household increases. And this is a day of rest!

I wonder how many of us really have a day of rest. If God needed to rest, then most certainly we do as well. Yet our perceptions of the demands of God frequently cause us to be stressed. We feel guilty if we are late for church. We feel even more guilty not attending a church service on a Sunday morning. I don't know what God did on the seventh day, but I highly doubt that He felt guilty for resting.

If your day of rest is causing more stress than a normal day, if you are motivated to perform certain expected actions on your day of rest, then something is wrong in your life. You are headed for a spiritual and physical train-wreck (I speak from experience!) My morning has been glorious. My mind is refreshed, my heart is alive. All because I ceased from exertion!

The power of obstacles

In our walk with God (and in life in general), people frequently attempt to avoid obstacles. Obstacles are perceived to be hindrances in fulfilling our God-given purpose. We lament the fact that they keep us from abundant life, from fulfilling our purpose. I often hear people talking about "if only..."

I believe that it is time to see obstacles in a different light. Instead of being the thing that hinders us, in reality obstacles are the avenue for the release of God's miracle working power. The next time you face what seems like an insurmountable challenge in your walk with God, I encourage you to see that challenge differently. Look from the historical perspective of the Bible.

The nation of Israel was trapped between the Red Sea and the wrath of Pharaoh and his Egyptian army. They faced certain destruction; it seemed as if following God had led them to this place of insurmountable obstacle. However, their situation was the catalyst for them to experience the power of God.

Jesus and His disciples spent the day with multitudes of people in the remote wilderness. With nothing to eat all day, the people grew hungry. There was no way to provide for their need. Once again the circumstances were ripe for the manifestation of the miraculous power of God.

History is filled with examples of people who embraced obstacles, instead of shrinking back from the impossibility of their circumstances, they pressed ahead. These are the history-makers, people who change the face of their generation. History is also filled with people, who when confronted with obstacles, chose to shrink away in fear. These are the people who have been largely irrelevant to the kingdom of God.

When one becomes possessed by his/her God-given dreams and boldly tackles obstacles, something transformational begins to occur. As obstacles are conquered, an authority, a "weightiness" begins to be evident in the individual. Conversely, when one shrinks from the inevitable obstacles that result from heeding the invitation of God, they become changed as well. Negativity, fear, and an unhealthy spirit of competition begins to define them.

I am convinced that the main difference between history-makers and irrelevant people is their attitude toward and their response to obstacles. The reason most of us never experience the miracle working power of God is that we have no need for it. We spend our life in "smallness" never needing God's power on our behalf.

Obstacles are the medium through which men and women are made. Obstacles are catalyst for the unleashing of the power of God. Embrace them...overcome them...be transformed!

A heart condition

For the past several years, there has been a great deal of debate in Christendom about the state of a person's heart. There are people who insist that the heart is evil and can quote scripture to prove their point. There are people who insist that God gives a new heart and therefore the heart is good and can be trusted (and they can quote scriptures to prove their point). The debate frequently erupts on some of the Internet forums that I read.

Recently I was reading some of the parables that Jesus taught. A familiar story about seed, about different kinds of soil, and the resulting interaction between the seed and the soil caught my eye. Jesus had told a story to the crowds of people following Him about a man who sowed the same kind of seed on different kinds of soil with different results. Later the disciples asked Him the meaning of the story. Here are the words of Jesus:

Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

As I was reading the words of Jesus, the last line leaped off the page. In order for the word of God (the seed) to bring forth fruit, it must be heard with a good and noble heart. Of course I had some immediate questions.

1. Since the seed (the logos, the word of God) finds fruitfulness only in a good and noble heart, are the people that insist the heart is wicked unable to receive the word of God in a way that results in fruitfulness?
2. Why/how does the devil have access to the heart of those who are compared to the wayside (or path)? Is their heart evil? Does that evil-ness allow access?
3. Do the first three soils correlate with the condition of a person's heart? Are these the people who insist that their heart is evil?

I don't profess to have the definitive answers to these questions. However, Jesus words seem to indicate that there is a correlation between the degree of fruitfulness of a person and the condition of their heart. In other words, if one does not have a good and noble heart, then it impossible to provide the incubator that brings the word to complete fruition.

The emerging leadership in the church

Since the days of Jesus, we have wrestled with a different kind of leadership. In the kingdom of God, leadership is vastly different than in the world. Jesus had the following to say about leadership. (from Mark 10)

But among you it should be quite different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all. For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve others, and to give my life as a ransom for many."

As God begins to restore the church to the Biblical patterns, a new (for us) kind of leadership will emerge. Leaders will no longer work at building their own kingdom. Instead they will work toward building God's kingdom. In so doing, they will follow Jesus' example. Jesus never demanded a position or privilege. Look at His example in the midst of the disciples arguing about who was the greatest among them:

Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he had around him.

Jesus was fully aware of His authority, of His relationship to the Father. Yet instead of demanding that He be honored by having His feet washed, He took the position of a servant, choosing to be the one supporting the disciples. Jesus never demanded that His disciples submit to His authority and position.

Even today, Jesus' power and authority is not for His benefit. He exercises that authority for our benefit. Paul, in His letter to the Ephesians, makes note of this:

And God has put all things under the authority of Christ, and he gave him this authority for the benefit of the church.

In the past, leaders in the church have far too frequently acted more like the world than like Jesus. They have demanded submission. They have protected their position. Some tasks are seen as too menial for leaders. Many times, the people have existed to serve the leader and his/her vision.

The role of leadership in the kingdom of God is to facilitate the building of the kingdom of God. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for not allowing people to enter the kingdom of God. As I leader I must be careful to not hinder people from engaging with God. I don't think leaders consciously hinder people, however over the years I have consistently observed it happening. When a church member comes to a leader and expresses a desire to follow Jesus into a new venture, all too frequently the leader squashes the initiative because the person is needed in the leader's sphere. Instead of exploring what God may be doing and how His kingdom may be expanded by this new venture, the leader simply assumes that this idea cannot be from God because it doesn't fit with the building of his/her personal kingdom.

There is a new (or old, depends on how you look at it) kind of leadership emerging. Leaders will facilitate the expansion of God's kingdom by blessing and releasing people into the dreams they may have. Leaders will use their anointing to call people into a deeper walk with God, instead of using their anointing to self-fulfill their own desires for their own kingdom. Authority will be used to benefit those being led. Since the kingdom of God is within people, leaders will recognize the movement of God's Spirit in the hearts of those they lead. They will freely choose to wash feet, serving those they lead in whatever way is best for those being led. As a result, the kingdom of God will grow exponentially.