Unchained Challenge: Luke 5

Scripture: Luke 5:b (Peter to Jesus) “But because you say so, I will let down the nets for a catch.”

Observation: Jesus is always asking us to do odd things. He asks the disciples to feed a crowd of thousands with just a small amount of food. He commands us to love not only our friends, which is hard enough, but even our enemies. And in Luke 5 he asks seasoned fisherman who caught nothing all day and who are almost finished cleaning their nets to “put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” What could Jesus possibly know about fishing? At any rate, Peter’s response is commendable. He does the ridiculous, seemingly senseless thing Jesus asks him to do. He obeys Jesus’ odd command because Peter trusts him.

Application: Sometimes I am tempted to play life safe within the bounds of my own logic and convenience. What if Christ asks me to put out my fishing nets at a time and in a place that seems unlikely to yield fish? Ten years ago it seemed God was calling me to lead a church that was demoralized and stuck. There were other ministry opportunities that seemed to make more sense, but I knew God was calling me to this problem-infested but potential-filled church. “Because you say so” I went. That church, in time, became the kind of church I always dreamed of leading. And I almost missed it because it didn’t make sense for me to go there. I wonder of God is calling me to do something odd and unlikely today. If he does, will I muster the grace to respond with Peter “because you say so, I will.”?

Prayer: Lord, give me the grace to follow you wherever you lead and to do what you call me to do no matter how odd it may be. Forgive me for playing life safe and, too often, missing out on the boat-load of fish you have for me. Amen.

Unchained Challenge: Luke 4

Scripture: Luke 4:39 So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.

Observation: Peter’s mother-in-law is sick with a severe fever. Once Jesus comes on the scene, he heals her. Immediately after being healed, she gets up and serves them. She doesn’t take a nap, sit around and chat, or let people wait on her; she serves! Perhaps she is so overwhelmed with gratitude for being made whole that she can’t help but do something for others. She is served by Jesus and that compels her service to others.

Application: I am challenged by this story. First of all, I am challenged to have more compassion for my mother-in-lawJ Seriously, the question that haunts me is, why do I serve? There are lots of mixed reasons for serving people in Jesus’ name. I confess that sometimes I serve because of how it makes me feel about myself, how it makes me look to others, or how it obligates God to “bless me.” Today, my motivation to serve God will be the same as it was for Peter’s mother-in-law. I will remember how God has healed me and that will motivate my service. He has healed me from addiction, past pain, and debilitating insecurity, inferiority, and inadequacy. I will allow his healing love to motivate me to get up and wait on the people around me.   

Prayer: Lord, when I pause to remember and reflect upon the many ways you have healed me, I can’t help but want to serve others so that they too experience your healing power. Today I will serve you not out of obligation but appreciation. Amen.

Pastoral Ministry Shifts

I began pastoring a local church as a senior in college at the age of 23. For the next 15 years I served consecutively as a solo pastor, youth pastor, assistant pastor, and lead pastor in a variety of contexts before joining the faculty of Wesley Seminary last year. As I reflect upon my years of pastoral ministry, it seems there are a few God-initiated, ministry-enhancing shifts I stumbled upon along the way. My perspective on pastoral ministry changed significantly since I was a 23 year old “wet behind the ears” pastor in that rural and loving congregation who gathered in a fly-infested, mildew-scented sanctuary. The following shifts fostered the kind of faithfulness that facilitated fruitfulness (alliteration almost always appears arrogantJ):


Methodology to Spirituality: The best way for parents to produce healthy kids is to cultivate a healthy marriage. The same principle applies to the pastor; the best way to produce healthy Christians is for pastoral leaders to cultivate a healthy, intimate relationship with God. Most pastors will respond to this with, “thanks Einstein!” However, many pastors seem more enamored with the work of the Lord than the Lord of the work. We can easily become more infatuated with ministry methodology than authentic spirituality. The people who have had the most positive and profound impact upon my development in Christ were not methodological storm-chasers, but spiritual God-chasers. Don’t get me wrong, we must explore and incorporate best ministry practices and methods into the life of the churches we lead. However, method-rich but Spirit-poor leaders don’t seem to build churches that build God’s kingdom. At some point I began reading more books to enhance my soul than I was reading to increase my effectiveness. Oddly enough, this made me more effective. Go figure!

Programmer to Architect: I used to focus entirely on programming the church. “Get the right programs for children, youth, and adults and you get the right church,” I assumed. The pastor is the programmer who picks from a menu of programming options that are working in other churches and incorporates them into his or her particular church. A good program may provide an immediate boost but rarely any lasting change. A decade into ministry I came to the conclusion that lasting change comes not from programming the church but architecting the culture of the church. I shifted from a focus on finding programs to facilitating a culture that aligns with the values of Christ. Once the church discerned and developed a Christ-aligned culture, which for us entailed significant ministry to the poor and addicted, we sought programs that reinforced that kind of culture. Pastors are called first to architect the culture before they program the church, or we end up putting the cart before the horse.

Church to Community: I used to think that God called me to pastor the people who attended the church. Most of my time, therefore, was spent on the church campus developing campus-based ministries that would bring people to our campus. Then, the incarnation of Christ began to “get under my skin” a bit. God didn’t sit back and wait for us to come to him. Instead, he came to us as one of us. He came to our campus, onto our turf. INCARNATION! I also began to dig into Wesleyan Christianity and discovered John Wesley left the “campus” of the Anglican Church to go onto the turf of the poor, drunk masses of England. He insisted “the world is my parish” and “there is no holiness but social holiness.” It suddenly clicked for me. So, the amount of time I spent outside of the church increased. I began meeting with community leaders on their turf to explore ways to “do good” together. We participated in community service projects. Our budget began to reflect care, not just for our campus, but for our community as we invested more money in feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and helping the addicted. In time, some of our most persistent evangelists were unchurched people in the community who said “go to that church, they care about people, they will help you.”

Powerful to Empowering: For some reason I assumed that if anything good happened in the church I led, it would be because of my insight, giftedness, or power. Although I quoted Ephesians 4:12-13 annoyingly, usually arm-twisting people to serve in ministries I decided should be important to them, I wasn’t empowering “the saints” to do what God was calling and equipping them to do; I wasn’t giving them a “voice.” About a decade into ministry I became captivated by the concept of Trinitarian ministry, pastoral ministry that flows out of the implications of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What does it look like for me as a pastor to relate to my people like the Father who honors and elevates the Son, and the Son who submits to the Father, and the Spirit who reminds us of the Son? My role as a pastor is to elevate, honor, and submit to the members of my team. I got the impression that the church is at its best when all the people of God are empowered to do what God has designed and called us to do. And, it made my job a lot less stressful.

Which shifts have you already made? Which shifts do you need to make to more faithfully and fruitfully serve the purposes of God as pastor?

Unchained Challenge: Luke 3

Scripture: Luke 3:4 “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him’.”

Observation: Luke uses the quote above from Isaiah to describe John the Baptist’s ministry as a mission of proclamation, aka preaching. John came to preach during a dry desert-like time for the Jews. The Jews were being oppressed by the Roman government. They Jewish race was demoralized and desperate. Many of them were poor and all of them under the thumb of the Roman government, except those who sided with the Romans against their own Jewish people. John’s preaching was primarily aimed at raising people up who have been brought low by life. John was called to preach in a way that would help demoralized Jews see themselves not through the eyes of their Roman oppression but through the lens of the rule and reign of God.

Application: I believe God has called me to preach in a way that elevates those brought low. Good news sets captives free. A preacher is called to be a “voice calling in the desert” that helps hopeless and hurting people to see “God’s salvation” in Christ. I want to preach in a way that causes a hopeless case to become hopeful, a racist to see people as God’s creation, a legalist to find love, an addict to get clean, etc.

Prayer: Lord, when I am tempted to use preaching to bring people low or beat them up, remind me of this verse. When I cry out in the desert of life’s dryness, please empower my voice to set captives free by the power of Christ.   

Unchained Challenge: Luke 2

Scripture: Luke 2:40 And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him.

Observation: I am not only struck by this verse, but by the entire section (Luke 2:8-51). There are three words that jump off the page at me throughout this chapter- grace, Spirit, and wisdom. It seems that God graces certain people with the presence of his Spirit which brings wisdom. God favors the shepherds with his grace and they immediately possess a wisdom that enables them to recognize Jesus as the cosmic King. Simeon and Anna, two saintly seniors, experience the grace of God and “get” the identity of Jesus as the promised Messiah. Jesus experiences the gracious favor and Spirit of God so that he grows in “wisdom” (2:40, 52). The bottom line is that God decides to grace certain people with his Spirit of wisdom that gives these graced ones eyes to see what they could never see on their own.

Application: I have some significant decisions to make in the weeks ahead. I am so desperate for God’s gracious Spirit that brings wisdom. I think of James 1:5 and hunger for wisdom from God. Today, and the days to follow, I will express to God my lack of wisdom and need for it consistently. Maybe, he will decide to grace me with the wisdom to see and know, just like he did with some shepherds, seniors, and the Savior!

Prayer: Lord, as I lean into your love, would you give me the grace to discern your “good, pleasing, and perfect will.” I am afraid that my eyes are sometimes blinded to what you are “up to” in the world and in my life. Give me the wisdom to see and the courage to respond to your will. Amen

Unchained Challenge: Luke 1

Scripture: Luke 1:25 Elizabeth said, “The Lord…has taken away my disgrace among the people.”

Observation: Being barren was a disgraceful lot in life for women of Elizabeth’s day. It still has a stigma for women even to this day. People, maybe even Zechariah himself, looked down upon Elizabeth for her inability to conceive children. But she still “walked upright” (v.6) regardless of the bitterness of being barren and the shame it piled on her. She did not abandon the God she might have been tempted to believe abandoned her. But God took away the “disgrace” of Elizabeth and enabled her to conceive a child who would “prepare the way for the Lord.” Not only would she give birth to a boy, that boy she birthed was the “birth” of Pre-Advent! She is excited and she should be. Mary feels some of the same joy for a similar reason. God “has been mindful of the humble state of his servant” (1:48). Two women, one barren and one obscure, have the shame taken away by the one and only God who could remove it! And this is the Gospel, thanks be to God. No more shame, no more disgrace, that was outside of the bounds of her control. I feel some of the same excitement as I reflect upon the shameful circumstances that have disgraced me and how God took it away.

Application: God is challenging me to be grateful and remember how he has removed my disgrace. Today, when I am tempted to feel the shame of my past or the disgrace of not measuring up in the present to the standards of myself or others, I will resist it by the power of the Spirit. I will not allow my mind to play the tricks on me that will lead me back to shameful disgrace.

Prayer: Lord, there were things outside of my control that disgraced me for too long. I felt the sting of shame that sent me into a downward spiral of insecurity, inferiority, and inadequacy. But then You came near and did for me what I could not do for myself- you took away my disgrace! Jesus Christ, you set this captive free! Amen

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Check out this article from Asbury Theological Seminary's Alumni Link: http://www.asburyseminary.edu/alumni-elink/beeson-alumnus-puts-wesley-on-the-web