Music Or Ministry?

 Remember the worship wars? Back when Christian music stopped being a ministry and became big business? Back when worship music was being played on the radio? The struggle was between the traditionalists who loved God, and the CCM world who loved the worldly business of making music.

It was no surprise that once ministry music crossed over in the secular music business that the message would be diluted and the ministry would be replaced with making money. Using secular recording studios and using worldly musicians and following a worldly program for promoting their music to CHINO radio stations and religious book stores guaranteed that music and ministry would be replaced by profits and promotion.

Pastor Mitchell did not allow his musicians to follow the dream of success as a musician. He insisted that it was discipleship and evangelism and preaching that was God's plan for a local church. He allowed bands to do outreaches, but he did not allow bands to make records. Pastor Mitchell was dogmatic in making sure that bands were Christian not only in name but in lifestyle and in character.

"And the world passes away, and the lust thereof, but he that does the will of God abides forever." 1John 2:17

While CCM went after the lust of the world, we went after winning souls for Jesus Christ.

Those Who Leave

"They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us; but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." 1John 2:19

We work hard to get people in through the front door. We outreach, we advertise, we witness, we invite, trying to get people into our church. And it works. People from all walks of life and from various backgrounds all gathered under one roof to worship and to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

From time to time we get people who find it impossible to stay with us and they leave. Some leave quietly, some leave in a riot of accusations. And we fret over those who leave. We want people to have what we have and to live how we live. And sometimes this just doesn't work.

Pastors sometimes do not work out. Some get moved, some are brought home, and some just quit and walk away from all they know and understand. Some go back to sin, others just waste away in the wilderness of despair.

The Bible says that those who leave become antichrist when they leave in a huff. Antichrist is a unique person in Bible prophecy. But the spirit of antichrist is active in the world today. Leaving is often one way to identify and to recognize these people.

Not everyone who attends our church is like us. Not everyone has been born again and filled with the Spirit. Not everyone is a disciple of Christ. They have put Jesus in their bag just in case. But they know nothing of the life of God in Christ.

Nothing takes God by surprise. The Lord knows those who are His. And He knows those who are Christian in name only.

One Thing To Do

 "...this one thing I do..." Phil.3:13

God is so big, so vast in scope, so enormous in power and wisdom. We cannot in our finite minds comprehend God at all. He holds the universe in the palm of His hand. He calls all of the stars by name. When God helped Job overcome his pride God reminded Job of who He is. He is God, you are not.

God has given us as the local church one job to do. He did not give us hundreds of tasks or thousands of opportunities. He gave us one job. To preach the Gospel is why we are here. Not to worship, not to serve, not to minister, but to preach. Everything else that we do must tie in to our reason for being. We cannot allow ourselves to be distracted or turned aside to other things.

What do churches do when the main thing is no longer the main thing? They open schools and hospitals. They run food banks. They get into partisan politics. And often they fall into false doctrine and idolatry.

Having guardrails or constraints keeps us on track and keeps us from falling off the cliff. This is why we have conferences. Not just to plant churches. But to help pastors and evangelists stay on course. 

Every church service does not need to be a conference service. We need the whole council of God and all of the gospel preached and taught to us on a regular basis. But we also need a regular and sustained outreach ministry to get the gospel out where it can work. For years in Prescott the Door was the concert venue where we preached the gospel every weekend. Pastor Mitchell did not have to preach on evangelism very often. We were too busy evangelizing to need it!

As the years roll on, it can be hard to stay focused. Especially if the results are not as exciting as they once were. This is not a time to change direction. This is a time to be obedient to our heavenly calling. We plant, we water, and we trust that God will give the increase. 

The Wonder Of It All

I remember a time when you would see a performance and be moved by that performance. A singer, an actor, a ball player, etc. I have heard a song that brought me to my feet in amazement. I have been moved by the emotions of a great actor. I have been amazed by the play of pro ball players. And, I have been held spellbound by sermons in church. People used to be amazed by a performance and wonder how they could do that.

Now, we see a performance and we think, hey, I could do that. We record it on our phone and don't even listen to the performance. And in pride we think that I could do the same. We have lost the wonder of great performances. We think that it is no big deal.

One thing in church is we think that we have seen it all and we know how it is done. God may be involved, but there is no wonder in it at all.

First, you cannot do what your pastor does. It is arrogant to think that you can. You cannot do what a musician does. It is arrogant to think that you can.

Second, there is an awe and wonder to God. There is a glory and majesty to God. You are not God. You ought to give God praise when the time comes in the service. 

There is more to God than salvation. There is still an awe and wonder to it all as far as God is concerned. Ask God to restore the sense of wonder to you.

Focus, Or Tunnel Vision?

 We measure to make it better. This is what we tell ourselves about everything. We measure our money, our time, our performance, our looks, and a host of other things. We call this metrics. Taking complex systems and making them countable. We do this in sports, in politics, and in church.

Why do we count attendance? Do we get anything if we hit certain targets for attendance? Does knowing how many people were there on Sunday morning makes us any better? Why do we count converts? Does knowing how many were saved makes us any better in evangelism?

The problem that I see with focusing on measurable metrics is we run the risk of developing tunnel vision. We become so focused on the measurable that we ignore or completely miss the intangible. How do you measure spiritual growth or spiritual maturity? What metric do we apply to the fruit of the Spirit? Do we count the number of times you prophecy or interpret tongues? Do we measure how many of your prophecies come true?

A local church of any size is a complex system. There are many intangible metrics and unmeasurable qualities. Everything and every person is interconnected. We are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

Goodheart's Law tells us that when what we measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good way to measure. The moment we focus on something and count it, it stops being important enough to count. David got into trouble with God over numbering the people. We lose our ability to judge the life of God in our church when we focus too much on one thing. We need the whole counsel of God, not just one particular thing.

Good Enough

 We spend most of our time on our least important decisions. We spend mental and emotional capital trying to make the best possible decisions. Between the desire to be and have the best, and the fear of missing out, we have become unable to make a decision with long range consequences.

Fredkin's Paradox says: "the more equally attractive two alternatives seem, the harder it can be to choose between them-no matter that, to the same degree, the choice can only matter less."

Let me say that God is perfect and everything He does is perfect. We are not perfect. We always work with incomplete information. God knows the end from the beginning. We hardly know how to take the next step. It is pride that says that we can be God-like in everything.

Knowing that we are not God, we can make life easier and more satisfying by learning that good enough is good enough. More choices paralyzes us into inaction. Making a decision and sticking to it is the way to peace and satisfaction.

Life maxing is just a fad. We don't follow fads, we follow Christ. We still listen for the still, small voice of the Spirit to guide us through life. Stop comparing yourself to the artificial images from AI.

All Means All

 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

The word for today is simply that God is at work in our lives even if we cannot see or feel or sense His presence. And we are assured that His plans for us are plans to give us peace and to prosper us in all that we do.

So be encouraged. Your labors are not in vain. The verse says all things. All means all.

"What then shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31