New Thoughts (10/2/06-10/3/06)
His own people thought He had lost His mind. His own family was sure He needed rescue for His own good. What does that sound like? It puts me in mind of those who have found it necessary to rescue their children from one cult or another. Come to think of it, some of the description that is put to His ministry is reminiscent of cult behavior. There wasn’t time to think about what was happening. Everything was crowds and ministry and never a moment to stop. Oh my! You know, in some ways that’s how our own ministry seems. Yet, as busy as it always seems to be, it is still nothing compared to what these disciples were facing.
Here, though, is one major difference: Jesus instructed His disciples to get away (Mk 6:31). He told them to find a place to rest for a time, away from the people where they could stop and seek God for themselves. This is something many ministries today would never advise. They’re too anxious to maintain their pool of willing and available volunteers. It is a symptom of pursuing numbers rather than excelling in one’s place. It is the temptation of fame displacing the purpose of ministry.
That said, this can happen to the most sound of ministries. Why? Simply because the statistics are so tilted against them. Look anywhere in the ‘how to build a church’ section of the bookstore, and they’ll tell you; there’s only ten percent of your people if that who will get involved and do the work of the ministry. The rest will happily serve as audience. With that knowledge, it’s small wonder that those who lead the ministry lean hard on their ten percent to do more. If the ministry is the least bit effective, the work will only increase. Yet, it seems that the same workers are there to do the job. Until one day they’re not there.
Jesus, not surprisingly, had a greater wisdom. Get away. Stop and take time to minister to yourself. If you are not keeping strong yourself, how shall you be a pillar for anybody else? Oh, that we might lay hold of this! Oh, that we would not push ourselves to the point of burnout and then just walk away from the need.
Holy Spirit, give us balance as we serve. Give us strength to do all Your will and wisdom to do no more.
There is, of course, a flip side to this. What we have on display in this particular passage is not the issue of burnout, but an issue of devotion. Plainly said, it’s an issue of how others perceive devotion. Here we are witness to Jesus’ family come to pull Him out. Were it to happen in our day, they would be looking to lock Him away in some deprogramming center, to free Him from the influence of this cult He had got caught up in.
Don’t be surprised. Those closest to us are often going to react in similar fashion when they see the change in our behavior. Those who knew us when are not going to understand the us we are now. To those who are not devoted to God’s purposes, such devotion will often, if not always, appear to be insanity. Real and earnest devotion to God can become near to indistinguishable from the madness of the cult. If He is an All Consuming Fire, how is it surprising that we may be wholly engulfed in His ways? It really shouldn’t be.
In many ways, devotion is madness. Look at the definition of that word! It is a ‘religious fervor.’ It is a state of ardent dedication and loyalty. Madness, for contrast, might be described as an ecstasy or extreme enthusiasm. Hmm. Fervor or enthusiasm? Ardor or ecstasy? One might go so far as to say it’s just a matter of perspective. We will have to find more than the moment to discern which is which. Let me suggest that we go back to the measure of Mark 6:31 once more. Ardor will be given rest. Fervor will stop to find strength. Enthusiasm and ecstasy will devolve into frenzy. Which way are you heading? Toward rest and strength or towards frenzied exhaustion?
This is an evaluation that needs to be made. It is one that must be answered on a most prayerful and personal level. See, God’s promise is, “I will give you rest.” We know that one from Matthew 11:28, when Jesus calls to the weary, but that’s not the first time the promise has been given. Moses heard the same promise back at Mount Sinai, in that time when he sought to see God’s face. God’s promise was, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest” (Ex 33:14). It was also a message David heard. “I will give you rest from all your enemies, and I will make a house for you” (2Sa 7:11). It is the same message He gives to His laborers today.
So, as we assess our works, we really need to be asking ourselves if we are at rest in those works. Moses was working hard at nigh on 160 years old, yet there is no word of exhaustion to be found in him. So long as he worked in accord with God, his strength was up to the task. Caleb and Joshua were in their eighties as they led Israel into the land, yet they did not weary of the battle. It is those who are busy pursuing their own agenda ‘in the name of the Lord’ who will wear themselves out in vain. It is those who are pursuing a program instead of a purpose who will feel the strain.
Is this the correct measure of things, Holy Spirit? Is this really the way it is? How much, then, of my own activity is no more than busyness? God! I feel such strain of late. Is it because I am off track? Oh, Lord! If this is just the season of testing, then I must rust in You to lead me through, knowing You will carry me if I fall. Lead on, then, my Lord! If, however, I have wandered off on my own, and this is leading me into a flailing futility, then bring Your correction to me. Lord, let my heart not be so steadfast that I’ll not accept the path You choose. Let me not be so caught up in doing, doing, doing for Your kingdom that I fail to recognize that what I’m doing is not for Your kingdom at all, but just a narcotic for my conscience. I don’t have the energy, Holy One, to be building towers of chaff that You must burn away. Let me be focused on the things that matter to You, and leave everything else to care for itself.
Yes, Lord, and let me not be swift to judge where any other is in this matter. Let me not fall into the error that is on display in this passage. When I see those who are truly devoted to Your purposes, who are wholly committed to doing only as You command, let me not pronounce them mad. Let me not pronounce them delusional. Oh, my God! I know I have often said just that. Forgive me, Lord. It is the same slander they painted You with. Let me instead honor those who are pursuing You. Let me do all that is in my power to provide for Your purpose in them. Let not my need for balance lead me to working to oppose what You are doing.
Father, quite simply, I lay it all before You this morning. My job, my music, my ministry, my family, my property; it is all mine only because You have chosen to give it to me. Why, then, do I allow it to become such a burden? It is from You. It is all a good and perfect gift. It cannot be otherwise. Let me, then, thank You for these things. I do thank You. I shall seek to honor You by honoring the gifts You give. I shall seek to honor You by turning those gifts to Your purpose so far as it is in me to do so. Yes, and I shall trust in You to see that Your will is done in these things as it is in heaven. You, my God, are a dear and loving Father to me. I know I can trust You, and trusting You, I know I can trust the things You give to me.
Forgive this doubt that has been in me and let me go out in confidence today. Lord, You know the challenges and I know You provide the way through. You know the things that weigh on my heart and mind, and I know You provide rest from those burdens. So, I come to You today in trust. I come to You with these requests laid bare. Heal these wounds, Father. Change my course wherever it needs changing. Show me how to rest in this ministering time. And, by all means, take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. You are Light and Life. Apart from You I shall surely die. Apart from You I am surely nothing and no good for anybody. Come, then, and be my All in All, my All Consuming Fire, my Lover, my God and my King.
In parting, there is a verse from John’s Gospel that shows up as paralleling this account, at least in substance. It is from a later point in His ministry, and yet the same issue pursues Him. There were many saying He had a demon, or that He was insane. They could not understand why anybody was listening to Him (Jn 10:20). I had noted that verse for comment, but this morning I could not really have told you why. However, seeing the question posed in that verse, particularly in the frame of mind I have been in of late, I see a need to answer that question. “Why do you listen to Him?” The only answer I can give is that which Peter gave on another occasion. “Who else could I turn to? He has words of eternal life.” I have believed, and I have come to know that this Jesus who came to meet me so many years ago is the Holy One of God, and He Himself has chosen me to be numbered among His brothers (Jn 6:68-70). Why do I listen to Him? It’s a matter of life and death! And, I have chosen life.
I know that many, perhaps even everybody in my family, think I am at least a little off my feed. My father the pastor has suggested that this is not a Christian pursuit I pursue but some cult or another. Devotion looks rather like delusion, particularly to those who have fashioned Jesus after their own image. My brother the atheist cannot understand why I would sit here each morning looking into the Word of God. Yet, he sees something here. I am, so far as I know, the only part of this family he hasn’t disowned. Hmm. And how many of my coworkers are at least a little bemused should I speak in tongues as I work, or make Biblical allusions? I’ve heard it said at least once that it’s a bad sign when somebody starts quoting the Bible over their work. I’d say it’s a good sign indeed.
At the same time, I have to acknowledge that some of their reaction must also be to the inconsistency of my actions. It is hard for unbelief to understand the severity of the fall. It is hard for us to understand. I look at my own actions, and I am offended. I cannot see how I can be in Christ and yet do the things I do, yet I know I am in Him. I know I am not anything like what I was when He came to me. I know that there is still a stench of death about me, but I also know that He who has begun to work in me is faithful to complete it. I know He is worthy of my devotion. In whatever degree I can give it, He is worthy of so much more. I know that if I keep my eyes on Him and on His kingdom, then all this labor that weighs me down shall be as nothing compared to the weight of glory He has stored up for me in heaven. So, I shall find strength in Him to carry on. Mad? No, only devoted – consecrated, set apart for His use and His use alone. I have been marked with a sign: “Holy unto the Lord”, and this is my only rightful boast. Praise be to His name.
