Of His Government and of Peace there Shall be No End

Isaiah 9:1-7

For those who had “out like a lion, in like a lamb” hopes for the end of 2020 and the start of 2021, the past week has been a wake up call! How sad to see mob violence and its deadly results in Washington, D.C. last Wednesday! As Christians we should be just as alarmed by such wanton and destructive behavior whether it happens at the Capitol or on any street in any city. In many ways our times have gotten more confused and confusing for average citizens trying to make sense of the world; but for Christians events like these must bring clarity, not confusion. After all, we’re not called to be “average” but model citizens: a city on a hill, unhidden, letting our light shine before men that they might see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven, as Jesus says in Matthew 5.

But a danger for Christians in these days--especially in a media-saturated culture where supposed ‘expert evidence’ and arguments on any side of a given issue may be touted and flouted with a tap or a click--is the danger of what I’ll call “side-ism” or “sideology.” To be clear, I’m not talking about voting decisions! Picking one candidate over another, voting in a particular way on certain issues--every conscientious person does that on an individual level, or at least should!  I’m talking about total surrender of one’s conscience such that the “side’s” conscience supplants individual conscience, such that tribe becomes truth and trumps personal conviction. 

Clarity for the Christian comes when God’s holy word forms our consciences and shapes our convictions. Clarity comes when we resist tribalism’s fear-based pressure tactics by remembering who our true King is, whose “side” we’re really on. You may not like this, but right and left, Democrat and Republican, liberal and conservative, Antifa and Maga--they’re all just decoys, different sides of the same coin. One side of a quarter is stamped with an eagle and the other with George Washington’s head, but whichever side I look at it’s still just a quarter! Side-ism is a tool the devil uses to throw us off the scent of our Savior. He uses sideology to draw us away to destruction-—to divide us not just from other people but from our Lord if possible and from His global gospel mission.

Isaiah 9 reminds us of our true side. Ancient Israel received this prophecy while facing an Assyrian invasion and occupation as a consequence of national disobedience and rebellion against God. Yet it reminds Israel that even in the face of their own sin, even in the face of occupation and oppression, God has a plan for His people and will keep His covenant promise to redeem them. They are on God's side, not because they chose Him but because He chose them. The “child to be born,” the “son to be given” promised centuries before His actual arrival is the same One to whom we look back two millennia and call “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” He is Jesus of Nazareth, the Choosing One! Our position on social issues doesn’t define our side; our possession by the Savior does!

To me the saddest images from the events of January 6th were “Jesus Saves” placards alongside “Don’t Tread On Me” banners and others blazoned with M-16 rifles. Crosses interspersed among gallows and guillotines should be a deeply troubling sight to every Christian. What I see in a mob of any color, party, or persuasion is not strength but fear, fear of losing something: territory, rights, property, or power. But these aren't things Christians should fear losing. We don’t need gallows, guillotines, or guns to gain what God guarantees us with more abundance and permanence in eternity than we could ever claim in this world. What did Jesus say in John 18? “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not from here.” When they came to arrest Jesus, what did He say when Peter cut off the guard’s ear? “Live by the sword, die by the sword, Peter.” Peter tried to lead a mob, an uprising, an insurrection. Instead of trusting Jesus’ promise to rise from the dead, Peter feared losing his Lord; he wanted to fight, but fear was driving him. Hadn’t he learned anything from Jesus? “Peter, I’m the Lord of life. You don’t need to defend me; and even though they’re arresting me, I’m going to defend you from your own foolishness and fear.”

Being on Jesus’ side means not panicking when the other side appears to be winning. Truth is, we’re either on Jesus’ side or we’re not. We’re either loyal subjects of His government or we’re chasing the devil’s decoys. And trust me, the devil doesn’t care which one we choose to chase! The same Yahweh whose first commandment is “you shall have no other gods before me” is the same One of whom Isaiah says in v. 6, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder.”  Does this mean earthly human government? Sure. Jesus and others in the New Testament are clear that human government is necessary and good for restraining human evil even though we all know human governments can themselves descend into evil at times. Human governing authority is delegated by God and derived from God for a designated purpose and season. But then v. 7 draws a distinction: “of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” This is specifically His government; it’s corruption-free; it’s perfect and it’s permanent.

Let me reiterate something. Even though God made Israel this promise and even though Messiah eventually came to pay the price of redeeming God’s chosen people, sin still brought devastating consequences in the meantime. Some in Israel received Isaiah’s promise with hope and faithfulness, but others continued in disobedience. The next part of the chapter outlines God’s judgment on Israel’s wickedness. Look at verses 18 to 21.

18 For wickedness burns like a fire;
it consumes briers and thorns;
it kindles the thickets of the forest,
and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
19 Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
the land is scorched,
and the people are like fuel for the fire;
no one spares another.
20 They slice meat on the right, but are still hungry,
and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied;
each devours the flesh of his own arm,
21 Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh;
together they are against Judah.
For all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.

I don’t know about you, but to me that sounds a lot like the hostility in our society. “People are like fuel for the fire,” Isaiah says, “no one spares another.” Wow! Did you see v. 20? “They slice meat on the right, but are still hungry, and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied; each devours the flesh of his own arm…” Left and right. It’s side-ism right here in the Old Testament! No mercy. No sparing of one another. It all amounts to what? Self-consumption that leads to national self-destruction. This is not Assyrians on Israelites. This is Israelite on Israelite. They're graceless, merciless people. Why? Do they enjoy civil war? No, it’s because they reject the only One who could truly unify them; they reject God as King and want to be a law unto themselves. 

Look at v. 21 again: “Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh; together they are against Judah.” Do you see it? In Isaiah’s day Manasseh was an evil tribe, Ephraim was an evil tribe, and Judah was an evil tribe. Manasseh hated Ephraim; Ephraim hated Manasseh, but they got along just enough to join forces against Judah. Isaiah contains historical information, but it’s a book of prophecy first and foremost. Judah may have been rebellious in Isaiah‘s day, but it was still the kingly tribe; the tribe of David and of the Wonderful Counselor, the Prince of Peace who would one day descend from David. Ephraim and Manasseh are two sides of the same coin. They can’t stand each other but they’ll stand together against the king of kings.

While different tribes of men--even within the same nation--may strive against one another on any number of social issues, when it comes to the primary spiritual issue wicked humans always unite in outrage against God and His holy Son. Psalm 2:1-3 says, “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The Kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.’”

What are we to do as Christians in these troubled times? Very simple: Pray, Worship, and Witness.

Pray

• Jesus says in Matthew 5:43-45, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

• Paul says in 1 Tim. 2:1-2, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

There’s no scenario where prayer isn’t to be the Church’s first and primary response. 

Worship

• Make every effort to gather as God’s people. It may not seem like we’re doing much when we gather on Sunday mornings. But I assure you, there is no mob, no rally, no protest, no cause that even comes close to the size and consistency of Christians meeting in large and small gatherings all over this country and around the world every Lord’s Day to profess allegiance to Jesus, to study the ‘Constitution’ and to sing the songs of our ‘side’—which is our Savior.

• Keep calm and disciple on! Paul says in Eph. 4:3, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Week by week and day by day in large and small ways we’ve got to spur one another on to love and good works. Call, text, meet up to read Scripture and pray for the lost. No amount of effort we put into growing disciples and growing as disciples is wasted effort!

And then, lastly...

Witness

Last Thursday I posted on social media what I believe is an appropriate Christian response in this tumultuous time. “True Christians must rise from our national travail neither as victors on a winning side nor as victims on a losing side but as those who declare the bankruptcy of any social tribe or political ‘side’ to offer ultimate hope and whose lives and words instead point to the Savior!” I also mentioned the “Stand beside her and guide her through the night with a light from above” line in ‘God Bless America.’ I said I wasn’t sure it was Irving Berlin’s intent, but that when I hear that line I hear Jesus telling His disciples in Matt. 5:14-16: 

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

We don’t stand above our nation or neighbors as superior people; we stand above as SAVED people, humbly and earnestly inviting others to taste the mercy of God and the hope of something infinitely and eternally better than politicians or politics can provide: new life in Christ!

May 2021 get better! May 2021 be a year wherein the Church grows ever more distinct from the rhetoric of any earth-bound political side or tribe and gains once again an elevated (likely marginalized) prophetic standing from which to clearly call out to the hateful hostile tribes of men: “Find hope, find rest, find peace through the blood of the Lamb, the Lion of Judah!”

What Were You Discussing On the Way?

“Highly respectable poverty.” That’s a phrase David Brooks uses in his book “The Road to Character” to describe the attitude and upbringing of early civil rights activist A. Philip Randolph who refused the offer of donors to raise money to better he and his family’s living situation as his public notoriety grew.

Material wealth is certainly among the things Christians must be willing to do without, but I believe we can apply an attitude of highly respectable poverty to other forms of “wealth” which are equally tempting. One of the most alluring is the lust for power and position. Though social media can give modern folks an inflated sense of importance and power, the temptation to greatness certainly isn’t unique to our digital generation.

Jesus knew when His disciples needed their thinking challenged or corrected. One of those occasions is in Mark 9 when upon arriving back at their ministry base in Capernaum He asks them, “What were you discussing on the way?” The disciples’ silence is telling. They knew arguing about which of them was the greatest was not something that would please their Master. They were right!

I don’t see a lot of fellow Christians arguing about who’s the greatest per se, but we sure argue. We argue politics, we argue semantics, we argue doctrine, we argue strategies and styles, etc., etc... All this arguing leads me to wonder if such outer disagreements aren’t in fact being driven by unspoken individual feelings of great(er)ness in relation to other believers. And how easily these bickerings can start—one slip, one word uttered in frustration, one little moment of self-congratulation, one seemingly innocent corrective comment, one “I’m not looking to start a debate, BUT….” kind of post on social media. I wonder, would those “Just putting this out there…” kinds of posts not get made less and less if others (especially other Christians) didn’t get so riled up and give in to the urge to engage, no matter how irritating or inane posts like that can be?

We look at the “Who’s the greatest disciple” situation and want to know which knucklehead disciple started it on the walk back to Capernaum, and why. Was he bored? Was he frustrated by Jesus? by another disciple? Did he feel his concerns or position were worthy of more note within the group than they were currently enjoying? Was he basking in a private compliment by Jesus feeling sure this affirming word set him apart (indeed above) the others and wanting to make sure everyone else knew how he’d pleased the Lord? Maybe one of those is true. But really shouldn’t we wonder who made the second comment, the first rebuttal, the first rebuke, the first corrective comment? Couldn’t the whole kerfuffle have been avoided had not that second person gotten defensive and instead either changed the subject or, better yet, pretended not to even hear the first statement? Aparently this second person didn’t spend his quiet time that morning meditating on Proverbs 26:4 (“Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself”) or Psalm 19:11 (“Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.”)

Truth be told, there have been plenty of mornings I didn’t meditate on those passages either!

The refining process in earthly life always brings out inner ugliness on our way to eternal gold. The road trip back to Capernaum was such a refining process. Jesus knew the disciples were up to mischief, but He let it continue, partly for them, and partly for us! When they got back, He corrected offender and counter-offender alike with tough love and set a child in their midst to remind them of the kind of heart that pleases Him and what true greatness in His kingdom looks like. In a lot of ways I believe our present confinement is a process of refinement. As we journey our road with Jesus during these testy, trying times, what are we discussing on the way? How are talking with one another? Are we looking for ways to serve each other through our interactions whether in-person or through the typed/texted word and assert the greatness of Jesus? Or are we somehow angling for our own greatness in the midst of a whole world of people trying to be on top?

“Highly respectable poverty” is an attitude that flows not so much out of a non-concern with material goods as out of a general self-perception more shaped by the supreme greatness of Jesus and the great value He ascribes to us as His chosen ones than upon any greatness we can gain for ourselves. The world needs a Church that embraces highly respectable poverty in every dimension of its life. We don’t have to be great when we have such a great Lord. We don’t have to make ourselves great through wealth or through words when we serve such a great Savior who knows and calls us by name! This kind of church is made up of these kind of disciples. And these kind of disciples have “highly respectable poverty” modeled for them by their servant leaders. That’s our calling!

Communion and Quarantine

I grew up in a church that observed the Lord’s Supper once every three months. If the timing works out, I suppose it’s conceivable that a church taking communion quarterly might not have to decide how or whether to observe it in quarantine as a congregation—provided the group restrictions don’t last longer than three months.

The church I pastor observes the Lord’s Supper monthly, so we do have to address this question, as do the many Baptist churches who observe the Table weekly.

Any discussion of how to handle the Lord’s Supper in a time of quarantine is bound to evoke feelings. Feelings are involved in the Lord’s Supper, and rightly so! Jesus’ suffering on our behalf, the bonds we share in faith under His blood, and the joy of our eventual union with Him in glory—those truths, those realities cannot be pondered without deep feeling. And to deepen those emotions of love, acceptance, unity, and peace with a gracious God as a church family, the Lord gave us a commemorative meal to enjoy together.

But that’s the key word isn’t it? Together.

Pastors and churches are having to figure out how to do “together,” what being “together” means and doesn’t mean, and what “together” can and cannot look like under the Coronavirus quarantine. But as pastors, though feelings and emotions are rightly involved in and invoked by the Lord’s Supper, our aim must always be to point the Lord’s people to His word for guidance in understanding this and other facets of being and doing church. So, before I go on, I want to be careful to say that if a church’s leaders have settled on an approach to the Lord’s Supper during the COVID-19 quarantine that differs from mine, there’s room for grace and humility on this question amongst brothers united in gospel mission. The goal should be intra-church unanimity amongst a congregation’s leaders not necessarily inter-church uniformity amongst all congregations in a network like Cleveland Hope. Thus, what I offer here is not a directive but rather my perspective for pastors and churches who perhaps have not yet worked through this question.

That being said, my position is that it would be wise and helpful for pastors or leadership teams to wait until their congregations are able to gather again as a whole body in the same room to observe the Lord's Supper. Here's why this is my position:

1) Bible Precedent. The fact that every instance of the Lord's Supper referenced in the NT was in the context of a gathered, diverse body of believers should not be set aside just because we have the capability of seeing and hearing one another digitally. The physical, tactile nature of the bread and juice representing Jesus' broken body and shed blood being shared by believers around a common table is crucial to symbolizing the centrality of Jesus and the intimacy and unity we're to have as His followers.

In Exodus the Passover was celebrated in homes; but rather than a case for fathers conducting the Lord's supper with their families under quarantine, I see this as a picture pointing toward local churches assembling in the New Testament to acknowledge together God's ‘passing over’ our collective sin by the blood of the Lamb of God. "It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it" (Exod. 12:46-7). There were many houses among Israel, but within each “one house” multiple layers of families & kinfolk (even circumcised servants, etc.) gathered to eat one and only one lamb. This was being done throughout the Israelite community.

Then there’s that amazing description of Pentecost and the early believers “devoting themselves to…the breaking of bread…” and “…day by day … breaking bread in their homes…” (Acts 2:42, 46). Whether one, both, or neither of those refers to the Lord’s Supper is hard to tell. They ate together and fellowshiped; they cared and shared; they preached and prayed; they rejoiced. It seems likely “breaking bread” in that context would’ve in some way been tied to Jesus’ upper room example and command given just a few weeks earlier. But is it to be normative for us today in our present quarantined predicament? I think not. The early Jerusalem church met in houses, but these were big, multi-family, multi-cultural gatherings happening daily, overseen by apostle-elders. Those scattered gatherings around Jerusalem also look like scattered local gatherings of believers around the world today known as local churches. We can’t gather that way right now. Besides, while that may have been normal for those explosive growth days after Pentecost, even within the New Testament era things calmed down and settled into more ordinary patterns of church fellowship and worship. Sunday meetings became typical. For example, Paul tells the Corinthians (1 Cor. 5) to use part of a typical Sunday gathering to excommunicate an immoral brother. Later (ch. 11) he chides them for sullying the gathering (specifically the Lord’s Supper) by self-indulgent and demeaning behavior: “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.” The context suggests that “without discerning the body” isn’t a reference to Jesus’ literal body but disregard for His representative body in the diverse assembly of believers (rich, poor, Jew, Gentile, etc.) demonstrated in some members impatiently taking the Lord’s Supper before all members were present.

2) The Value of Gathering. We can’t rightly “discern” the body of Christ represented in the bread and cup without being in the actual company of the other redeemed members of His body with whom we are covenanted. No relationship of any importance can ever be fully satisfied remotely. Our relationship with God is founded on the promise of one day being physically, literally, bodily in the presence of our King, Jesus. Without that hope, we would all look for something else to satisfy that deepest longing. The world offers all sorts of alternatives: porn, sporting events, concerts, 'hooking up,' etc. We are social creatures who deeply want to be physically present with other people--God made us that way. The digital world just can't replace in-person contact with other believers with whom we share the hope of that eventual ultimate in-person union with Christ. The writer of Hebrews says, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is fatihful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near" (10:23-5). I don’t believe churches are “neglecting to meet” in our present circumstance; it’s more of a necessary and temporary cessation of meeting. However, just because we’ve switched to virtual meetings for now does not mean all the elements of our actual, in-person church meetings, especially the Lord’s Supper, should (or can) be conducted virtually.

I use technology. We all do. You’re reading this on a computer or phone screen. We can listen to our favorite preachers and podcasters whenever and wherever we want. Some would say that they’ve even formed “online churches.” I disagree. Churches may use websites and apps as tools for organizing information or event planning, etc., but I do not believe that any truly born-again believer in Jesus can ever be satisfied with an online-only experience of church.

3) Joy and yearning. There is a longing too deep for words within us to unite, to hold hands, to hug, to hear voices sharing the same lyrics in the same oxygen, and to smell one another (yes, I said that). Don’t you miss that these days (okay maybe not the smelling part)?  The Lord’s Supper should be something we yearn to resume once we are able to assemble together again on the Lord's Day. The Lord's Supper helps define what we mean by the term "local church." Bridge Church at Perry is a local church; Mt. Pleasant Baptist is a local church; Gateway Church Downtown, and your church—these are local churches that meet consistently in local locations at consistent times on a consistent day of the week. Our present quarantine situation is interrupting that consistency. We can continue praying for each other, hearing God's word preached, and even singing (sort of), but none of this should be considered ordinary. Just as it bothers us when we see people routinely skipping or missing our Sunday gatherings, it should also bother all of us to have to miss our “together time” during this quarantine. But being bothered isn’t always a bad thing! Let me encourage you, pastor, to not waste this interruption in your church’s ordinary gathering! Allow yourself and lead your church members to grieve over that aching absence of communion. Let that yearning compel intensified prayer for God’s mercy in ending the Coronavirus suffering and in enabling a return to our public assemblings.

To me, offering the Lord's Supper outside of the regular, in-person, Lord's Day meeting of a church risks cheapening (not enhancing) it's value as one of Jesus' two public (local church) ordinances. He gave the ordinances of the Lord's Supper and baptism to help believers form a shared identity as locally gathered, locally-defined, unified expressions of His body.

My greatest concern in offering the Lord’s Supper in contexts outside of the in-person, regularly gathered local church meeting is that we might inadvertently devalue that very gathering. In an age when we are already very socially isolated (Christians too!) by devices which sell us on the notion of a virtual connection, the Coronavirus pandemic poses a question: How much will we really miss one another and our bond in Christ? We are not really together online. Convenience and ease are not Christian values, and thus are unacceptable substitues for genuine Christian community.

Picture this: in a few weeks (or months), what will be your lasting memory of that first Sunday re-united with your church family? I am looking forward to that earthly reunion with great anticipation and part of it will be the renewed sharing of the Lord’s Supper together as we long together for our eternal union with Jesus!

Partners in PANdemIC

It’s almost surreal, but I published my last Hope Notes blog post two Wednesdays ago, just minutes before getting in my car and driving home while tuning in to Gov. Mike Dewine’s first Coronavirus press conference announcing the “extended spring break” for Ohio schools. To say that the last two weeks have been a whirlwind—press releases, news reports, advisories, updates, cancellations, response plans, and email alerts by everyone from utilities to banks to insurance boards of directors all seeking to let us know they’re here to serve us during this crisis—is perhaps the understatement of the decade (yes, I know the decade just started).

It’s dangerous to assume, but with most churches and pastors being relatively tech-savvy it is likely that most of you have navigated the initial “Phase 1” challenge of transitioning your weekly gatherings (and hopefully offerings as well) to an online format. That’s important. But I hope we’d all agree that the greatest “Phase 2” challenge is not how we will care inwardly for ourselves and keep inner ministry going as believers and churches, but how we will prepare in order to leverage this moment of crisis for the outward mission of Christ. (Click HERE to listen to missional thinker and director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College, Ed Stetzer, on the COMING crisis!)

I like to play with words. I couldn’t help but notice a couple of Sundays ago when I first addressed the COVID-19 situation before Bridge Church that the word pandemic is the word ‘panic’ with ‘dem’ in the middle. It’s not really the etymology of the word, but I do recall from Greek that ‘dem’ means people (e.g. ‘Dem’ocracy = people power, etc.). So we can look at pan-dem-ic a couple of ways: 1) as “people in the midst of panic”, or 2) as “people interrupting panic.” Both interpretations of pandemic are live options. We can see people in panic around us, and we can also see people interrupting panic by taking calm, courageous action.

I like option 2 the best. That’s where we as Christ-followers need to be; that’s where we’ll have our greatest impact for Jesus—as people interrupting a time of cultural and civilizational panic with a peace that passes all understanding.

TRANSPARENCY ALERT:

This crisis will interrupt the revenue streams that supply Bridge Church and Cleveland Hope. Yes, concern (even worry) have teased at my mind as to how this could impact not only our church’s and our network’s capacity to minister but also how our household income might be affected.

Perhaps those same thoughts have been nagging you too—and maybe not just on the church side of things but also on the secular income side of things as many of you are also employed in non-church jobs.

Most people reading this blog are engaged in roles of Christian leadership and influence. I have three points of advice that I believe will help us be panic interrupters rather than panic participants. I’ll give them to you all at once and then we’ll look at each in sequence:

Communicate. Communicate. Communicate.

Step 1 - Communicate

Paul says in Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

“All healthy communication is important, but the absolutely essential and foundational form of communication for every believer and group of believers at all times (not just times of global pandemic) is prayer.”

My six year old son Isaac shared this memory verse in front of our church a few Sundays ago and boy, what a timely word it turned out to be! All healthy communication is important, but the absolutely essential and foundational form of communication for every believer and group of believers at all times (not just times of global pandemic) is prayer. Take it to God. You’ve got worry? Take it to God. You’ve got unemployment? Take it to God. Do you have COVID-19-infected church members or neighbors (if not YOU WILL)? Take them to God and plead earnestly for their healing. Concerns over money? Take them to God! Fight anxiety with the antidote of faithful prayer.

Step 2 - Communicate

Brothers and sisters: whatever your leadership capacity in your church, TALK TO YOUR PEOPLE! They want and need to hear from you. Whether you’re a pastor, children’s coordinator, small group leader, personal discipler of less mature believer(s)…DON’T STOP TALKING TO YOUR PEOPLE (well, I mean you have to sleep and eat and spend time with your families and work and grocery shop, etc. but…). My point here is that we must take every reasonable opportunity and leverage every available medium to bring the comfort and stabilizing effect of God’s word to God’s people. I’m not much of a tweeter, but I’ll be getting back in the swing of Twitter in the coming days. Why? Because it’s an avenue of filth and falsehood that I want to utilize for truth and light for the people God has given me to influence. Our church folks are being innundated with all the same media and messaging that we are—some of which is pure hype and speculation. Do all you can to provide God’s people not with your opinions or theories about CV19 but with helpful, factual information from health and government sources—and yes, the Bible!

“…we must take every reasonable opportunity and leverage every available medium to bring the comfort and stabilizing effect of God’s word to God’s people.”

Also, encourage your folks to communicate with their neighbors and associates. Many of our church members are classified as “essential” workers and are still associating with people each day in the community. Share a verse-a-day with your people and encourage them to do likewise in-person with their co-workers or neighbors while also offering to pray (see Step 1 above) for their needs & concerns. Ask your folks to communicate with you and for their permission to communicate their stories with others for the sake of encouragement. I was chatting with a friend on Facebook yesterday and she told me about a mutual friend who called a credit card company with a routine question. She talked with the rep for 5 minutes about the credit card issue and for another about another hour about Jesus sensing the card rep’s fear about the current crisis. As my friend told me, “People are looking and listening!”

Step 3 - Communicate

Here’s the next step: Communicate with other churches & leaders. Oh, and don’t forget to include your favorite association guy :-) )! Bridge Church rents worship and classroom space at a school. I can’t tell you how encouraging it was to have three nearby pastors reach out to me offering to share their churchs’ space with us knowing we would soon be locked out of our facility with the school closure—they called me!! Don’t let the isolation creep in either from your church family OR from other church leaders in the broader family of God. Now is an optimal time for encouragement and even creative partnerships. Got a creative idea for blessing folks and sharing the love of Jesus in your community? Need some resources? Call me (440) 413-1508. Need some ideas? I may not have THE solution for your church & community, but two heads are better than one; AND I’ve been hearing about a lot of cool ideas from leaders across Cleveland and Ohio that I’d be happy to share with you!

“Now is an optimal time for encouragement and even creative partnerships.”

I’ll try to make personal contact with each of you in the coming few weeks, but feel free to call me. Visit our directory; pick another pastor or two and call ‘em up. Even a voicemail communicates care and helps break the isolation Satan wants to strangle us with. Share a prayer need and/or ask how you can pray for them.

I could try to pull together a bunch of ideas, checklists, and best-practices to implement, but I’m not an expert on your church or the needs in your specific part of greater Cleveland. That’s why my advice is very simple and straightforward: Communicate! We are communal creatures and the health of our communion hinges in no small part on the quality and quantity of our visible and verbal communication. Let’s partner during this pandemic. But let’s pull together and offer the kind of partnership to our people, to our communities, and to each other that helps interrupt panic rather than intensify it. Clear, Christ-focused, consistent and credible communication is the key!

Blessings to you!

Money & Mission in 3-D (part 3 of 3)

In part 1 of this series we looked at the subject of “D”ollars in the life of a Baptist association. in part 2 we considered just a few of the actual and potential “D”eliverables that network dollars can help provide to partner churches and leaders reaching others for Christ close to home and around the world. Today I conclude this “Money & Mission in 3-D” series looking to the future dimension of our network.

The DREAM

Is it outrageous for women or African Americans to vote? No way, but that’s not always been true! There was a time when that notion would’ve seemed ludicrous — even to women and black people themselves. But a dream fed a desire which fueled a determination to labor with great discipline until that dream became reality, even though many of the first to dream it never saw it come true.

Abraham, our great forefather in the faith, was a dreamer. God gave him a dream and then the desire, the determination, and the discipline to forge ahead by faith towards the great blessing that he and his descendants would bring into the world: the Messiah! To the skeptics, Jesus (that very Messiah) says in John 8:56,

“Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”

Abraham saw it, but not with his eyes; he touched it, but not with his hands! Abraham rejoiced through faith and hope in a Savior God revealed to him in a dream. And, though imperfect in his pursuit, and though unrealized in his lifetime that dream defined the rest of Abraham’s earthly existence—and still does! Perhaps the greatest dreamer in Scripture is Joseph. A lot of good his dreams did him, huh!—at least at first! Scorned and scolded, thrown into a well, sold into slavery, presumed dead. Heartache and hardship are the common lot of dreamers.

Dreams are audacious. They are absolutely ridiculous and even offensive to non-dreamers and skeptics.

Can I be transparent for a bit?

Like many of you, I’m a dreamer. But (also like many of you) I battle discouragement and defeatism in some measure almost daily. As a family man, I have hopes and dreams of a strong and vibrant marriage; I long to see my kids growing physically, spiritually, and emotionally. As a pastor I dream of a church on fire for Jesus, emboldened through prayer, and reproducing through energized disciple-making and church planting. But in each of these capacities the day-to-day nicks and scrapes of life and ministry—along with occasional body-blows—crush my spirit and consume my energy as a husband, father, and also as a pastor. These dreams require desire (which I often slake with junk like TV, social-media scanning, Oreos, and other quick comforts), determination (which often crumbles in the face of opposition), and discipline (which ebbs and flows in highs and lows).

My pursuit is highly imperfect, yet my dreams for home and church persist. So I must persevere.

The same is true of my dream for Cleveland Hope!

In December of 2017 a small group of representatives (nine I believe) from our association met at Trinity Christian Church in Bedford. The purpose was to vote on me. Deborah and I were there with our (then) 3 year-old son Isaac. To this day I am humbled—near tears as I type this sentence—to have received that small gathering’s unanimous call to lead our association into the future.

Abraham’s dream didn’t come true right away—in fact he didn’t live to see it. Joseph’s dream took a couple of decades to be realized with a lot of suffering and loneliness along the way. Like both of these saints, my dream for our city and region is certainly bigger than myself; God is up to things I can’t even begin to comprehend. But I want to share with you some things I see… some things I dream.

• I dream of Cleveland being a place brought from hopelessness to hope in Christ, and of our little network of churches and leaders being highly instrumental in this move of God.

• I dream of 60 churches today being 120 churches five to ten years from now, 200 (or more) in fifteen years, etc. I dream of these churches spanning every format from mega to micro, from thousands to thirty to three gathered around Scripture to the glory of the Savior with an intent to reproduce disciples and worshiping communities on every block and backroad (yes, there are some backroads) in greater Cleveland.

• I dream of Cleveland being both a mine of and a magnet to young ministers and missionaries. 1) A Mine - no young person should grow up in any of our churches wondering where and how he or she might grow as a gospel leader ready for kingdom deployment when God sends them out. Every church a shaping, sharpening, sending church! 2) A Magnet - I see this city and our churches being the talk of Christian college and seminary dorm rooms: “Hey, have you heard about Cleveland and the ministry internships and residencies available there? Every one of their churches has members with spare bedrooms and free lodging for summer or semester interns; some of them even have spare cars! And I hear Cleveland interns even get a stipend!”

• I dream of every Cleveland Hope pastor considering himself not just a shepherd but a professor and coach, trained together and entrusted with building young leaders, coming together on a monthly rotation to host intern cross-training cohorts in all the disciplines of spiritual formation, ministry and mission all coupled with hands-on, local church experience.

• I dream of a staffed (paid and volunteer) multi-purpose resource center in a sizeable re-purposed downtown or near-downtown facility complete with offices, classrooms, meeting rooms, a resource library available for every pastor and church leader for browsing and borrowing, showers and bunkrooms for visiting mission teams, warehousing for outreach materials, food, clothing, and other items donated by churches, corporations, and other agencies for helping the hurting, and garage space for a small fleet of vans available to our churches for mission trips and outreach purposes.

• I dream of business owners and corporate donors saying, “We see what you’re doing to serve this city and we want to buy in!” I see CEOs making Jesus their CEO!

• I dream of Cleveland being a global launch-pad, a place, a network, churches and leaders so alive and aflame for the gospel that northeast Ohio can’t contain it’s spread.

• I dream of every foreign people group represented in Cleveland being engaged in Christian hospitality by our churches with a view to their salvation and the transmission of the gospel to their countries of origin.

• I dream of an annual scholarship available to offset travel costs for every pastor who leads his people on mission.

• I dream of having the sharpest brotherhood of biblically-trained pastors of any association in the Southern Baptist Convention because we invest in our leaders’ theological education.

• I dream of an network of churches and leaders held together by doctrinal unity and mutual moral & ethical accountability.

If you’re tempted to think this is impossible, STOP IT! Just go ahead and admit that it totally IS… for us.

Even at my very young age of 43, like Abraham, I feel the years creeping and time slipping away, and am tempted to wonder if the dreams God has given me will come to pass in my lifetime. In my dark and discouraged moments, like Joseph, I feel lonely, forgotten, and unloved, like I’m looking at the world and my dreams through a tiny disc of light at the top of a pit, and I wonder how, when, or even if God will come through.

Another moment of honesty…

As I near the end of this post, I’m tempted to trim some of the “I dream” bullet points above. My little heart can’t bear the thought of you reading this, rolling your eyes or snickering at my “pie-in-the-sky” vision for our network. Cleveland Hope is behind on dollars already for the year. We’re below target on deliverables. But can a God who calls a Mesopotamian geriatric to father His new nation and who takes a Jewish runt from prisoner to potentate of Egypt not do great things through us and among us, all for the same redemptive purpose and glory of the same Messiah that Abraham and Joseph looked for?

Ministry and Mission are trying and tiring endeavors. But I’ll tell you this: nothing is more tiring and hopeless than a dreamless ministry and mission.

I want and need your partnership—I crave it! I want you to get in on the promise of 1 Corinthians 9:8,

“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”

So much and so many of God’s resources for the dreams He’s implanted in our hearts for our churches, our network and our future gospel impact are latent and untapped right under our noses.

I was recently shown some demographics from across Ohio outlining zip codes with no Southern Baptist Churches present. Those zip codes were arranged by population as follows: 1) over 20k, 2) 15-20k, and 3) 10-15k. Guess what. Of the 41 zip codes in the “over 20k” population category across Ohio, 14 were in greater Cleveland (including 6 of the top 10, with Lakewood coming in at #1—a city of 52,804 people in our association with no SBC church). The total population of just the Cleveland-area zip codes over 20,000 people with no SBC church is 484,618. Add to that all the smaller zip code population categories with no SBC church and the number jumps to 627,261. That’s well over half a million people in greater Cleveland with no Southern Baptist church in their zip code. Some of those people may be Southern Baptists who commute to nearby zip codes to church. Great! But I never want to hear “We have enough churches…” That will never, ever, ever be true!

Our dreams have to be bigger not smaller. The potential and the resources for a gospel wildfire are all around us like dried leaves under a hot October sun. We carry the match of the good news; may the Holy Spirit of God graciously blow on it as we faithfully strike it and drop it into hearts and lives all around us every day. And may the growing and glowing light of churches and a city set on fire for Jesus flicker and send hot embers to the darkest parts of the world as we labor expectantly and TOGETHER until He returns!

One way to take an active part in strengthening Cleveland Hope is to join our Executive Leadership Team. Each church is permitted one seat on the ELT. If your church doesn’t have a representative, your seat at the table is vacant! ELT members may be pastors or laypersons. Notify me today at davery@clevelandhope.com if you or a member of your congregation would like to serve on the 2020 ELT. We have two remaining regular ELT meetings in 2020: Tuesday, May 12 and Tuesday, September 15.