Ministry Preparation (Mark 1:9-13)

Last weekend, we took our youth group to downtown Detroit to hand out clothing to a sizable homeless population in a not-so-nice area. We had to start very, very early in the morning -- who wakes up at 5:30am on a Saturday? -- because we were asked by this ecumenical ministry team to visit with them at their church prior to going downtown. It actually required us to drive in the opposite direction to where we would eventually be, and then stand there for a half hour while the team leader taught us about the ministry and what we would do. It was hard to wait -- we fidgeted, eager to get downtown and actually do some good. Yet this pre-ministry portion was crucial to focusing our attention on what was important, to teach us what we needed to know, and to prepare our hearts.

Being the impatient, impulsive people that we are, ministry preparation is often an agonizing task. We are project-oriented -- get us there, so we can work on the project and get it done -- but that's not the way God wants us to minister. God wants us to have a right heart first, before our hands and feet take action, and likewise, he wanted Jesus to have this too. As Jesus sets the example for us, so we too should enter into a period of reflection and preparation before digging into the "meat" of ministry.

Here we witness Jesus' two major steps of ministry preparation. First, he is baptized by John to "fulfill righteousness" (Matt. 3:15) even though he was spiritually pure. He shows us that not even Christ himself is above the Law of God. This symbolic baptism served to induct him into the priesthood dating back to Melchizedek (Heb. 6:20). We also see the Trinity in full force: Jesus being baptized, God the Father pronouncing "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.", and the Holy Spirit descending on him "like a dove".

The Spirit "immediately" sends Jesus into the desert to be tried and tempted. If Jesus was one of us, he would probably balk at this command. Why waste well over a month of valuable ministry time? Why not get started right away, if he was pure and righteous in God's sight?

Mark's account of Jesus' pre-ministry temptation is much, much shorter than Matthew 4:1-11 or Luke 4:1-13, but it doesn't mean we should skip by it so blithely. Four key facts are given:

1. Jesus was in the desert for 40 days -- 40 days is a symbolic number that reoccurs throughout the Bible, and it is an awful long time to be in the harsh, arid, rugged deserts of lower Judea.
2. Jesus was tempted by Satan -- Matthew and Luke detail these temptations, but Mark simply lets us know that Jesus was not free from attacks and temptations by Satan. It would not be the last time Satan would tempt Christ, but having it occur at the start of his ministry would entail Jesus to lead by example, not just by words. He had been tested and proven.
3. Jesus was with the wild animals -- The desert is both dangerous and lonely. A common theme in Jesus' ministry was his retreat from the world to be in quiet solitude with the Father. I can't imagine praying for forty days and being away from civilization for that long, but it must have focused Jesus' attention and heart to the place it needed to be.
4. Angels attended Jesus -- Even in his hardships, God provided angelic comfort for Jesus. God does not remove hardship from our life, but He also doesn't forsake us or desert us; He provides us with comfort and necessities.

I don't spend nearly enough time praying in preparation for the actual time I spend in ministry each week, nor am I always grateful when God puts me through hardships to make me into a better minister. However, if Jesus submitted to God through baptism, temptation and solitude, how can any of us say that we know how to get ready to minister better than Jesus himself? I am determined to spend more time before church and youth groups in prayer and not just busy preparations.

Acts of the Apostles

I've been really getting back into listening to my Bible Experience CDs in the car -- I simply cannot recommend these enough! It's not the best translation of the Bible (TNIV) but it's serviceable, and the production values on it are just stellar. You have professional voice actors, music, and sound effects to help take us away from monotone Bible readings to something that is truly lifelike and emotional.

We have to remember that the Bible was originally transmitted through oral tradition, and most Christians through history have experienced the Bible by listening to it. I'm not making a case for one method -- reading or listening to the Bible -- to be superior to the other, but instead that Christians should do both. Hearing the Word lets your mind conjure up the images and act on the imagination in a way that reading does not quite accomplish. Plus, when you hear it, you are not hearing your own predictable voice reading the Word, but someone else's, which has the effect of making you pay more attention.

Right now I'm listening through the book of Acts -- a very lengthy book, and quite underutilized in churches today, other than the occasional Pentecost sermon. Hearing it all the way through is a tremendous window into the early growth of the Christian church, and you just feel the palpable excitement of the believers as they witness miracles, experience growth, and form a community that spreads across the world. It's inspiring how many stories of apostles and disciples making a stand for their faith, even in the face of persecution and death.

I've also come away with the realization that the Jewish religious leaders didn't just give up the ghost after Jesus was resurrected, but continued to fight against the tide of Christ and his followers, especially Paul (who they surely saw as a traitor to their cause). Paul's own persecution eerily parallels Jesus' in some ways -- the crowds wanting to kill him, his trials before the Roman and religious authorities, his flogging, and his message of the gospel that he was able to share to the people.

A prof told me that none of us will ever be half the Christian man that Paul was, and Paul considered himself not even worthy to be considered in the same league as Jesus. But each, in our own way, are placed in the right spots for God's work, and that is a privilege that we cannot deny.

Laugh and the World Laughs With You, Cry and You Cry Alone

Last night and today, millions across the country and world are rejoicing and celebrating the election of a new President to the USA. Last night and today, millions more feel a heavy weight on their heart, unease in their mind, and a lack of hope for the future. I do not buy into Obama's vague message of change or hope, because he is an unproven entity who's historic ascendancy to the White House is more due to his celebrity status and what he is not, than what he is. It worries me greatly that my child will be born into a country under a liberal yoke, and I wonder with trepidation what changes we will witness in the next four years.

But, as I have had to remind myself numerous times today, even this is not outside of God's control, will or plan. And so I turn to the Bible to see what it commands of me in relation to a President I did not vote for and do not agree with. 2 Timothy 2:1-4 relays to us a plain command:

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

I have to remember that the kings and those in authority at the time of Jesus and the apostles and Paul were not the most morally upright, principled, peaceful group of leaders. Within that decade, the Roman Emperor would be actively persecuting Christians and often killing them. Yet here Paul shows us that the first and foremost duty of every Christian citizen is not to vote, but to pray. Pray for kings and all those in authority -- including leaders who we do not agree with or like or who may even be trying to hurt us. We pray that God will work through these fallible leaders to bring about peace and freedom, because nothing is outside of the scope of God's power. But most of all we pray because it pleases God and it refocuses our attention away from politics and anger, and towards the righteous King of heaven who cares little about who is Democrat or Republican, but who is brought into the fold of Jesus Christ.

So today I pray for Obama, for the leaders in Congress, the Senate, the Supreme Court, and all the way down to our local authorities. I pray for wisdom, for temperance, for peace to be their unending desire, and for our country's Christians to flourish in their faith under their rule and continue to witness to others for our Lord's namesake.

The Silesian Angel

From Johann Scheffler (1624-77):

God must be born within you.

Were Christ to be born a thousand times in Bethlehem,
And yet not be born in you, you will remain lost.

External things do not help.

The cross of Golgotha cannot save you from sin,
Unless that cross is raised within you.

Raise yourself from the dead!

It does not help you that Christ is risen
If you remain bound to sin and death.

Mark 1:1-8 -- It's Not About You, It's About Jesus

I have a note on my computer monitor at church that chastises me on a daily basis: "Remember: it's not about you, it's about Jesus." I wrote that after a youth worker seminar a few years ago, during which I heard Phil Vischer, the guy who created VeggieTales, share his testimony about how he lost control over Big Ideas (the company behind VeggieTales) due to a lawsuit. It was devastating to him -- VeggieTales had been at the height of success and Big Ideas employed over 300 people. But God decided to take that away from him in the early 2000's, and during Phil's recuperation period, he realized that VeggieTales' success had taken his focus away from Christ and invested it into pride and self-satisfaction.

Phil Vischer, like me, and perhaps like you, was a disciple of Jesus -- and as such, had to learn the lesson that there's only room for one guy at the top, and it wasn't going to be him. Hit the rewind button to the first century and take a look at another disciple of Jesus.

John the Baptist -- who I affectionately call "J the B" when I teach about him in youth group -- was quite a character, a "card" as my mother likes to say. He wasn't a quiet, meek-mannered bookworm, but a scruffy survivalist who wasn't afraid of the rich or powerful, and upset just as many people as he attracted with his preaching. Every stereotype of a wild-eyed, manic-looking, rag-wearing preacher waving around signs that claim "THE END IS NEAR!" probably owes their inspiration to this guy. Except that for all of how John looked and acted, what with his locust-based diet, this wasn't a man who proclaimed "THE END IS NEAR!" so much as "THE CHRIST IS NEAR!"

His entire life and entire ministry served as a humble prologue to Jesus' arrival on earth. He was Jesus' PR guy, the guy on the loudspeaker who drives a beat-up car around a neighborhood blaring the news about something big about to happen. Or, if you like, John was a blue-collar road-layer, making "straight the paths" (1:3) in the Jewish community so that the people would be prepared and eager to receive Jesus.

In the years that he did ministry in the countryside, J the B was probably tempted to develop a big head. He was a big name of the time, a man who's words carried weight, and who's message drew followers who were baptized by him and dedicated their lives to following him. He could've easily fallen into the trap that Moses did, claiming that his popularity and success came from his own means -- in other words, that it WAS all about him. But he doesn't! Read his message in verses 7 and 8:

"After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

In John 3:30, J the B said it another way: "He must become greater; I must become less." This was humility in action, a man who wanted what God wanted, who desired what God desired, and couldn't stand the thought of people worshiping him over Christ.

Every time I preach in our church, the part that makes me the most nervous is at the end when I go to the back and shake hands of the congregation. It's a good thing to do -- to be accessible, to minister with a friendly word and touch -- but a lot of people tend to treat it as they would any public performance: to congratulate and praise you. Tell me that's not temptation, after you hear fifty or so people say "Wow, what a great sermon!" or "You did a great job!" or, on the bad Sundays, "You said I'm a sinner, so I might as well go let the air out of your tires." I don't want the attention to be on me after sharing God's Word -- I want it to be on God.

We each are tempted in different ways to accept the glory of successful ministry instead of passing it along to God, particularly when people praise or complement us, or attribute any success to our own efforts. It's not a bad thing to let a complement lift you up, but we should train ourselves to respond to that with "It's not me, it's Jesus. Praise God!"

Shaken Out Of Apathy

As evidenced by this blog's post schedule, I've fallen into a twin trap of busyness and apathy over the past few months. The more delightful things in my life are easier to focus on, while the harder yet necessary work has been like pulling teeth. I was reminded in a conversation yesterday that spiritual disciplines, such as worship, prayer, Bible reading or scripture memorization do not come naturally to a believer -- these are hard at times, requiring education and persistence and focus. And it's so much easier just to let them slide.

I let a lot of things slide in my life, to my shame. I sometimes fool myself that because I'm so busy and obviously doing things all the time, that I'm okay on the whole, it balances out the things I neglect that are more important. It's the tendrils of apathy clutching at me, urging me not to fight but just to give in. There's nothing Satan likes more in a Christian than one who just doesn't care to stay sharp.

The other day I signed back up with Weight Watchers, because I've been getting apathetic in my physical health, and that needs to be reversed. It's annoying to start a diet on WW, because you have to track everything you eat, make sure you have time in the day for exercise, and be confronted with your weight all the time instead of just comfortably ignoring it. However, in doing so a part of me has stirred to excitement that I'm finally taking action, and I look forward to a year from now when I'm going to lose a whole lot of weight and feel much better for it.

Likewise, I need to go back on a spiritual diet of disciplines and make more time for God in my life. The purpose of this blog, way back at the start of the year, was to hold me accountable for my daily spiritual walk with God -- prayer, scripture reading, journaling. As someone once told me, if I don't take care of my spiritual life, who will? And so I'm returning to it, a bit shamed but still excited. I've loved seminary this semester, and spending a day concentrating on God has become a true joy.

New Life

I don't know if anyone actually reads this blog, but it's good for me to keep writing even so. And so I shall.

This past week Joy and I unleashed the news to friends and our church about her pregnancy. It's a very exciting time, but also surreal and uncharted (for us, that is). Being able to tell her dad that he was going to be a grandfather for the very first time was one of the highlights of the past month.

Another one of the highlights is that my wife signed us up for a mailing list that gives us a weekly update on how our child is developing in her womb. It's a really cool e-mail, complete with a picture -- the little guy already has eyes, fingers and toes. In one week, the e-mail tells us, the baby will double its size and weight! And he/she has a tail, which will be good for the other kids to tease them about.

Psalm 139:14 says, "I will praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Human life is to be respected, honored and protected because it is the work of the hand of the Creator himself. We are not random choice, an accident, a bizarre one-in-a-hundred-million-trillion chance at sentient life, we are a one-in-one chance of a God making a person out of His own image.

I remember something my brother once said when he announced the impending birth of his first kid, and I asked if he couldn't wait to become a dad. "I'm already a dad," he said, which made me pause and nod.

Yeah, I'm a dad too, now. I might not be able to see my son or daughter, but I can still care for them, provide for them, by caring and providing for their mother. I can pray for them every day, that they turn out healthy and smarter than their dad. He or she is fearfully and wonderfully made, and I can't wait to meet my child next April.