New Sermon Series: “Backroads, Buckets & Buffets”

For those who read my blog, one bonus is that you often get a preview of what might be coming down the pipe as far as sermons go at MainStreet. I’m a deep processor and require time to chew on ideas and try them out before I preach on them. Daily Illumination often becomes a forum where I’ll share some ideas and biblical gleanings from my own personal study.

This also means that what comes out on this blog is not a finished product, but rather some half-baked ideas I’m still sorting through.  So, think of DI as more of a journal than a newspaper.

Every pastor has their own routine for preparing sermons. Some spend 20 hours in their study, pouring over commentaries, reading the Greek or Hebrew, and preparing elaborate outlines or manuscripts. Others draw largely from others’ research and study, using preaching outlines, ready-made illustrations, finding sermons online or following a curriculum of sorts.

Most of us are somewhere between. 

MainStreet Laker Article

Encouragement for Self-Doubting Leaders

This piece I wrote about 2 years ago was published in the Youthworker Journal. Hope you find it encouraging.

“You’ll remember, friends, that when I first came to you to let you in on God’s master stroke, I didn’t try to impress you with polished speeches and the latest philosophy. I deliberately kept it plain and simple: first Jesus and who he is; then Jesus and what he did—Jesus crucified. I was unsure of how to go about this, and felt totally inadequate—I was scared to death, if you want the truth of it—and so nothing I said could have impressed you or anyone else. But the Message came through anyway. God’s Spirit and God’s power did it, which made it clear that your life of faith is a response to God’s power, not to some fancy mental or emotional footwork by me or anyone else” (1 Cor. 2:1-5, The Message).

The Bible is filled with many freaked-out, tongue-tied messengers commissioned with bring God’s Word into risky situations. Moses stammered when he spoke, but was told to go to Pharaoh anyway. Jeremiah thought he was too young and inexperienced, but that didn’t get him off the hook. Paul had a reputation for being impressive in writing, but awkward in person.

Pastors and speakers who have the privilege of sharing God’s message with others each week can gain reassurance from passages that remind us that even the great Apostle Paul had many moments of uncertainty and self-doubt. Do you find it encouraging to know that even Paul “felt totally inadequate” and “scared to death” at times? I certainly do.

Do you speak, preach or teach regularly to groups? Do you go through deep valleys of uncontrollable self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy in ministry? Do you sweat each time you step in front of your congregation or youth group? This can be a weight that sinks your ministry under the waters of despair, or it can be the thing that drives you to become more dependent on God’s power in your ministry and preaching.

My Immovable Stone – Part 3

Reposted from summer 2010. -JB

Trust is earned through acts of faithfulness and a track record of dependability.  If our trail guide gets our backpacking team safely up the mountain, then we can probably trust him or her to get us back down in one piece as well. The same is true with God.

Our trust in God for the future is anchored in the faithfulness of God in the past. In the story below, Samuel cries out to the Lord to rescue the Israelites from their enemy the Philistines.  After the Lord answeres his cry for help and intervenes on their behalf, Samuel sets up a special stone of remembrance and makes a powerful statement. Here’s the story:

1 Samuel 7:7-8, 10, 12

When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. When the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines. They said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.” …He cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him… That day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and thew them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites… Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen.  He named it Ebenezer (meaning ‘stone of help’), saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”

A couple noteworthy observations.  First, Samuel sets up a stone of remembrance.  Perhaps this a private stone to bolster his own shakey faith, or a reminder for the entire community, or both.

Second, perhaps somewhat strange to us, he gives the stone a proper name.  (So go easy on the little boy at school with a pet rock.)  As is typical in the Bible, names have meaning.  “Ebenezer” means “a stone of help.”  This stone is a visual reminder that God stepped in to help, to rescue from danger, to save from their enemies.

My Immovable Rock – Part 2

Reposted from summer 2010. -JB

The Bible describes faith as “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Heb 11:1).  In other words, trusting God to deliver on his promises demands hanging onto hope against hope, and moving confidently towards something which is yet unseen.

Our forefathers in the faith discovered the powerful practice of setting up visual monuments or memorials to remind them of God’s faithfulness in the past in order to fuel faith for the future. More often than not, these memorials involved stones and rocks.

My Immovable Rock – Part 1

Reposted from summer 2010. -JB

Keri and I are in the early stages of following the Lord’s vision to plant a church in Mound. Holding fast to the Vision is of utmost importance for those called to the work of church planting.

In the beginning stages the Vision is all you really have — two flawed human beings with what seems at times to be a crazy dream to bring a new community of faith to a spiritually thirsty town.

When the Lord gives you a vision, you can be certain that Satan wants to steal it away. The Vision must be protected at all times. The ways the Evil One might accomplish this are manifold: recurring bouts of self-doubt and insecurity, being sidetracked by other cares and worries of the world, ensnared by secret sins, derailed by internal conflict and disunity, and a thousand other subtle attacks.

This particular calling and vision has been tested and confirmed over a long period of time — nearly five years for me! — and in a number of ways remarkable.  The most powerful and consistent confirmation of God’s call comes repeatedly during my regular prayer walks through the town — usually late at night around midnight.

Nic @ Night 5: Nicodemus at the Car Shop

I brought in the car for a $25 oil change this week, and came home with a laundry list of significant repairs estimating over $3,550. The car has 200,000 miles on it — so we knew this day was coming. Nicodemus probably came to Jesus hoping for a simple religious tune-up — a new teaching to consider or an old teaching with a new spin. Like me at the car shop, Nicodemus found out he had a bigger problem to address.

Recently I had a serious steering alignment problem. My alignment was so bad that if I let my hand off the wheel for a split second my car would veer sharply to the right into the ditch. Instead of getting it fixed, I decided to just fight it for months by gripping the wheel tighter. Eventually my wrists began to ache from holding the steering wheel straight.

The Bible describes a world completely out of alignment with God’s will and purposes. Human sin and rebellion have jerked everything out of whack. If we simply leave things, people, nature, government, etc. to do what comes naturally, we’re all veering into ditches, colliding head on and driving off cliffs.

Religion steps in at this point and provides some guard rails to help keep us on the road and out of the ditch. God gave us his Law to show us the righteous path, the holy road, that if followed will keep us from self-desctructive twists and turns, reckless off-roading adventures.  But unlike my car’s steering, the misalignment of the human will caused by sin has no quick and easy fix.

Church Under a Bowl

Reposted from April 2011. -JB

In my experience, the church has tended to adopt a “come to us” posture toward a lost and hurting world.  We prefer the “light house” image of church where the church is a sanctuary that houses the light of the gospel.  Our mission then becomes inviting others to “come to church” to encounter the light.  There is nothing wrong with this approach….but is it the most biblical image?  Is is the most effective approach to reaching people in our culture?

For both biblical and cultural reasons, I believe the church in post-Christian America needs to exchange the “light house” image for the image of a rescue boat. Jesus invites us “into the boat” (Mk 4:35) to become “fishers of men” (Matt 4:19) to “go out and make disciples” (Matt 28) by engaging lost people “in the marketplace daily” (Acts 17:17).  In a culture that is receptive to spirituality and Jesus, but largely disinterested or even turned off by “church”, we cannot wait for lost people to come to the church.  The church — Jesus’ followers — must go to them.

I was reading a well-known statement of Jesus this week that took on fresh meaning as I read in light of these observations above and the vision of MainStreet Covenant Church we’re forming in Mound, MN.   In Matt 5:14-16 Jesus says,

“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.

In light of my observations above about the church exchanging a “come to us” approach to a “go out” approach, Jesus’ words seem to offer a similar challenge to the church today.  I offer the following insights/challenges from Jesus’ words words:

Cross-Shaped Discipleship in a Comfort-Shaped Culture

How many of us really take Jesus’ words seriously?  I don’t mean picking and choosing the teachings we can tolerate.  I mean ALL of them. Most of my greatest challenges and hardships in life have been the direct result of taking some of Jesus’ more difficult words seriously.

I recently preached a sermon challenging MainStreet to be both a “Safe and Holy Place.”  In that context, I was referring to being “safe” from shame, condemnation and the graceless legalism of the Pharisees.

I was in no way speaking of a church that is “safe” in terms of being a risk-free, controlled environment where there are few surprises and we all stay within our own personal comfort zones. The Bible, as I read it, is largely a story of unsuspecting people getting yanked out of their comfort zones and invited into the dangerous and demanding life of “risky obedience”. Safety, risk-management and comfort are precious American values; but they are not biblical values.

The lives of Abraham, Moses, Noah, David, Elijah, Paul, Peter, John and the rest all seem to involve leaving something of value and comfort behind, being led into a time of testing, facing great hardship and sacrifice because of their faithfulness to God, and experiencing God in profound ways because of their faithfulness.

The past couple weeks I have been unable to escape several passages God keeps bringing to my attention. I believe everyone involved with MainStreet needs to wrestle these words, too. Some of the key passages include: 

QUOTABLES: On Making Disciples

“Let’s face reality: There are no programmatic shortcuts to effective disciplemaking. There is no “easy button”. Disciplemaking is about relationships. Relationships are inefficient. Disciplemaking is about life change. Life change is messy. Disciplemaking is centered in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ allows no pretense. Disciplemaking is unpredictable. Unpredictability requires risk. Disciplemaking is unique to each person, each generation, each cultural context. Uniqueness eliminates the possibility of universally applied “paint by the numbers” disciplemaking relationships.”

-From Shaping the Journey of Emerging Adults by R. Dunn & J. Sundene, 58-59.

HOW DO YOU DO THIS IN A DRIVE-THRU CULTURE?

Jesus’ disciples spent 3 years, day and night, sitting at his feet – and they still didn’t get it or know him. “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time” (John 14:9)? And we think we can become faithful Christians immersed in the realities of the Kingdom by listening to a 30 minute sermon each week? No wonder our views are far more shaped by pop culture and the never-ending political discourse.

Pray for MainStreet Church in Mound as we try to create a disciple-making culture in a fast-paced society.