Before Jesus ascended, He left His men with marching orders. In giving those orders, He made it clear to both the devil and His disciples what He intended to accomplish from afar. He intended to build His Church, just like He had always said, through willing men & women for centuries to come. Only now, this plan was no longer mere talk, it had actually begun. The Commission had been given, and the gates of hell were on high alert.

After 2,000 years of building, the Church of God is yet unfinished. The work is still happening, but the war is still raging. Our progress is sure, but it’s slow, and it seems that we’ve got a long way to go. A modern missionary to Asia gives a sobering first-hand assessment of one possible reason for any lack of success in our work, saying this: “Sadly, over the centuries of missionary efforts, there has been a huge disconnect between the church at home and those sent to the mission field. People at home are not sure what to do or say to those in the field, and those in the field often feel forgotten and abandoned. At the same time, it’s hard for those in the mission field to accurately describe what it’s like where they’re at, and so they give up trying, leaving those at home without the full knowledge of what’s happening and what they’re going through”

Another article reminds us that: “When a congregation sends out missionaries, they extend their church’s ministry beyond their immediate cultural and geographical context.  This partnership means the missionaries do not cease to belong to their sending church, or are simply absent friends, but should remain valued members of their church, albeit in another place. A healthy relationship between a sending church and its missionaries will be a rewarding and enriching two-way process, keeping the church abreast of God’s wider purposes and giving an increasing awareness of cross-cultural and global mission”  

Forgotten Statistics

“Mission’s Season” has begun for us already this year, and the season itself only seems to get longer and longer. The JFB community has a total of 4 short-term missionary endeavors in 2019, stretching from March to October, with a total of 48 participants, many of whom will be on multiple trips. The numbers are impressive for a church our size, and noteworthy for various reasons, but hidden behind those figures are other statistics that are easily overlooked. As many people as we are sending into the mission field this year, there are approximately three times as many people who are staying home. They will not be prayed over, they will not be sent out, and they will not keep us updated on the exciting things they’re doing for God’s Kingdom via the mission’s blog. Instead of fighting against malaria, jet lag, and homesickness, they’ll be doing battle with the common cold, long commutes, and monotony.

Satan’s chief concern is that we, the church, unify, and that each of us gives full attention to our particular role in missions (whether going or staying), and that we will actually fulfill the Great Commission. His strategy, in part, to prevent that from happening, is to promote a “disconnect” between the church and her missionaries. The Lord knows his schemes and has shown us how to fight against that disconnect. There is a way for those whose mission field goes no further than the county line, to partner with those we’ve sent out, and share in the work of building up the Church of Christ. But how? How can we who stay home, bless, serve, and unite with those in the field, keep the bond between us strong, and share in the eternal reward for the missionary work done by this church? 

1. Be Relational

They say that “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”. In other words, distance needn’t weaken the relationship you have to the ones in the field. In fact, because of the spiritual dynamic in true Christian fellowship, it can actually make it stronger. Read what Paul wrote to the Romans in 1:9-13 and you’ll see that his affinity for the friends he had at church didn’t diminish because of his work in the field; quite the opposite. Let separation prove how deep your friendship really is. Our missionaries know that they have the support of the church, but do they know whether they have yours?

Be sensitive, of course, to how you can best communicate that to our missionaries without burdening them, or interfering with their work (Paul wrote a letter, he didn’t bombard them with voicemails and text messages).

2. Be Prayerful

Absence can make the heart grow fonder, but it can also cause the mind to forget. This may sound like a given, but pray for your missionaries regularly. Pray for their specific needs…if you don’t know what they are, then ask them! Ask them before they leave. Get updates while they’re gone. Assure them that you’ll be praying for their specific prayer requests. And then make sure to follow through with your promise. Make the extra effort to be thoughtful and pray for what they may not be thinking of (which is the very heart of intercessory prayer; Romans 8:26).

The formerly quoted missionary to the people of Asia puts it like this: “We don’t need people at home to pray weak prayers for us like, “And God, remember ____. Bless him/her.” We are on the “front lines” in countries where the Gospel has either never been taken or is not well-known. We need powerful prayers from you! Not just short, last-thought on a prayer-list prayers. We need to be prayed for as sons and daughters on the front-lines of battlefields are prayed for. I encourage you to adopt some missionaries to battle for in prayer; prayer for faith, encouragement, continued vision, strategy, health, wisdom, protection, & harvest reaping”

3. Be Thoughtful

Find creative and helpful ways to bless missionaries according to their needs. Is there anything you can do to help them get ready for their trip? Is there something they could use while they’re gone? Is there any help they’ll need when they come back? What can you do to say, “Welcome home, we’ve missed you”. Sometimes the expression of a little extra care and consideration can be very refreshing to a tired servant of God.

“Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people” Philemon 1:7

4. Be Missional

The missionaries you’re praying for have such a strong desire to see the work of God accomplished, they were willing to rearrange schedules, suffer docked pay, and leave friends, family, & comfort, in order to do it. They’ve made major financial sacrifices, and taken substantial risks to fulfill their role in the Great Commission. Nothing would encourage them more than to remember that you are doing the very same thing on domestic soil.

Be evangelistic like they are. Work hard like they are. Make sacrifices like they are. Leaving the state isn’t required for a person to be “missional”. You can serve Jesus in many ways right here, right now, that will put you in the game and bless your missionaries.

We’re all part of the same team. If we take missions seriously as a church, then let those of us who won’t be boarding a plane or piling in a van this year make sure that we’re every bit as missional as those who are. The Great Commission will be fulfilled when each of us finds & fills our place in it. And when we do, we’ll shake the gates of hell.  

“From whose womb comes the ice?” God asked somebody that question a long time ago, and if you’re anything like me, you’ve recently been asking the Lord if He has an answer. The historic cold front we experienced two weeks ago introduced many of us to cooler temperatures than we’ve ever felt in our entire life. Only twice in the last 200 years was it colder in MN than it was last week; once in 1996 by a single degree, and again that same year by only four. So yeah, it was plenty cold. And if you were one of the unfortunate souls who didn’t work for the school system or the USPS, you probably left the house. If you did, you know how it felt. It was terrible. It was so cold, it burned. I could’ve crawled inside my freezer and enjoyed a 50 degree warm-up! Penguins even thought about moving here!

I’ve yet to meet anybody who enjoyed it.

The Coldest Place on the Planet

The state of Minnesota, however, isn’t the only place on earth that’s subject to extreme temperature drops. The human heart is capable of some record-setting lows of its own, isn’t it? Every Christian soul, including yours & mine, has had a spell where the warmth we felt toward Christ and His people was at an all-time low. We’d rather not be reminded of such statistics, but in severe cases, numbers like that are hard to forget. Alternating seasons of warm and cool might be fairly normal in a Christian’s life, but when the degree of our affections bottom out altogether, and the forecast shows no sign of an upward trend, things can get kind of scary. I dread the day that we set the next low-temp record in MN, but even more than that, I fear another deep-freeze of the heart. It comes fast and it comes unexpectedly, and it doesn’t care whether you’re ready or not.

Nobody likes that. Not even penguins.

I wish I had some foolproof methodology on how to escape the pitfalls of a cold heart. If I did, I would certainly share it with you, but, unfortunately, weather seems to have a mind of its own. In America, you might be able to hop in your R.V. and drive south, but in the Kingdom of God, there is no Florida. There is no Arizona. There’s nowhere you can go to “winter-over” in the comforts of borrowed warmth. Each of us is called to “bear our own burden”, and that includes the microclimate of a frozen heart.

The Warmest Place in the World

I was chipping through several inches of solid ice on my front steps the other day, feeling tempted to grumble and complain beyond the moral threshold. But just before the heavy-duty ice-chipper cracked in half, I remembered that the rest of the city was having to endure the exact same thing. And in all honesty, I took comfort in that. Further complaining would’ve induced guilt, because, of all the people in this city, certainly there had to be one or two that were pushing through the misery with a better attitude than I was. Surprisingly, I found myself being held accountable by people I’d never met! And suddenly, I wasn’t alone in my misery anymore, a positive outlook wasn’t beyond my reach, and that made the whole sad situation a bit more tolerable. I, along with the rest of the folks in my community, were in this cold mess together, and that made a strange difference in my mind.   

How important it is to live in community! To know that we’re not alone when the weather turns sour. Even if we’re not in each other’s immediate company, we know that there are other believers from our own church family who are facing off against the same spiritually inclement ‘weather’ that we are, and doing it faithfully. We’re in this cold mess together. Sure, we’re still called to “bear our own burden” in this respect, but just knowing that others are out there doing the same, can kindle a small flame in the darkest pit of a numbing heart. Christians in fellowship inadvertently “bear each other’s burdens” by bearing their own burdens well; with an attitude that inspires their brothers to sing beneath the weight, rather than to murmur & mumble.

Real Trouble

I recently learned that on any given night in Duluth, there are between 125 & 200 homeless people sleeping on the streets. This figure of course bore particular significance during our latest polar exploit. Cities across the Midwest opened “warming centers” for vagrants to get out of the cold and survive the worst of it. Duluth followed suit, but it made me wonder what it would take for a person to make it through the night alive. What if there were no ‘warming centers’? Could a person actually live through something like this? How would you survive?

You know who’s in real trouble on a night like that? Even more so than the homeless in the city is the one who’s stranded in the wild, all alone & isolated from every human contact. No fellowship. No one to share the pain with. Nobody to help him cope with the cold. Sub-zero temps are dangerous enough, but seclusion only makes matters worse. Fortunately, for people in a frigid land like ours, God has opened warming centers all across the Midwest. They’re called “churches”, and they’re for spiritual vagrants like us to huddle together and survive the extreme weather of a hardening heart. How often has it been the loving concern of a fellow Christian that proved to be the very thing needed to pull you in, out of the cold?

Stay Warm

Frigid weather like we’ve had in the past is inevitable. It comes with the territory. As long as we live in this harsh region (or this ‘harsh region’ exists within us), we can expect spells of alarmingly low temperatures. People who live in this dark world need each other, and that’s why God has given us the church. Don’t stay out in the open air when you feel the chill of another record-setting cold front descending upon your heart. Let the warmth of Christian fellowship keep you alive. It will. It’s what we’re here for.  

Does love come easy? Should love come easy? No and no. It doesn’t and it shouldn’t…of course not. Right? We’re smart people; we know this. Love takes work, love is “tough”; love hurts! There’s nothing easy about it! Every good Christian knows that Jesus Christ is the epitome of love, and His whole life shows us just how hard love is going to be. We would never expect love to be effortless. We need to love like Jesus, and we are ready to do it! (Theoretically).

In reality, however, our working definition of love is often quite different. Our approach toward relationships betrays a defective understanding of what real love is. We believe that love can be hard, seem tough, and feel painful, but we operate in a way that says love should be easy, exhilarating, and pleasant. We avoid love when it requires too much work, and give up on it if it’s too difficult. We expect love to find us, rather than making any effort to go and apprehend it. When love hurts, we trade it away for a cheap substitute that you can simply “fall” into. We prefer a kind of love that springs up in a moment and makes us feel a certain measure of fleeting delight.

(I’m starting to wonder if we’ve confused love with serotonin).

Priceless love is seen in history

The Bible unveils a mysterious kind of love that seemed to be common among Christ and His Apostles, yet seems to elude modern man. It’s a kind of love so foreign to most of us that we don’t even know what to call it. We mislabel it as “loyalty, commitment, or discipline”, when it’s really none of those things. It’s more, far more. It’s real love. It’s a love so strong, it overpowers the natural instincts of self-interest, self-preservation, and pride. It’s a love so precious, it’s fought to be kept. It’s a love so great, it often gets the one who has it killed.

This is the kind of love that put Jesus on a cross and buried Stephen beneath stones. Love is the real reason that John the Baptist died as young as he did. Love is how James & Peter ended their lives. These guys loved to death, and the love they had was anything but easy, exhilarating, or pleasant. Their love hurt. Theirs was tough. If these men wouldn’t have loved, they wouldn’t have died. None of them. Certainly not like they did.

You’ll know you have real love when neither torture nor death is able to make you trade it away for a certain measure of fleeting delight. You know its real love when it gives up its own life for the sake of somebody else. These guys had love. Earnest love; costly and priceless.

Serotonin shouldn’t be getting the credit for a eulogy like theirs.

Kill the man, confirm his love

Extraordinary love wasn’t the only thing these martyred men had in common. They also had incredibly ferocious enemies. Their love for Christ was deep enough to incense those who had none. Curiously, however, the unstoppable opposition & violence of their foes became the very means by which the extent & sincerity of their love was confirmed. Practically speaking, a love that’s never challenged is a love that’s hard to see, and a love that’s unwilling to die, is a substandard love. Love comes into focus with ever-increasing clarity only as the hatred & hostility against that individual intensifies. Nothing proves the quality of love like dying because of it. Therefore, no one on earth can test the quality of your love better than your enemy can. The properties of genuine love are best revealed in the fiery furnace of animosity.

Aside of Christ, one of the best illustrations of sacrificial love that we have in Scripture, is that of the Apostle Paul. He was a polarizing man. Some loved him, but many hated him. He was harassed, persecuted, and eventually killed, yet still managed to love in spite of it all. He had love for Jesus that exposed latent hatred in others, but didn’t flinch when that hatred rose up against him. Instead, he loved them in return. He wrote, with utmost sincerity, about his personal desire to trade places with the unsaved Jews and go to hell in their stead (Ro.9:2-5). The same men who made Paul the target of their loathing became the target of Paul’s love. Sadly, this kind of love is hard to find, even among Christians.

Cheap love is priceless in our culture

The American church is full of people who will never have the chance to love like this. The reason being, they have no enemies. The love they have for Jesus isn’t deep enough (or visible enough) to incense anybody, and, as a result, no one really opposes them. They get along with everyone. Nobody actually hates them, and, consequently, no one is truly loved by them. Christians in this way, aren’t much different than the world. They go on loving whoever they like, giving their life in small increments, only to those who love them in return. They don’t polarize like Paul and they don’t enrage people like Stephen. They’re nice. All men speak well of them, and Jesus doesn’t like it.

A love so strong, it overpowers the natural instincts of self-interest, self-preservation, and pride…a love so precious, it’s fought to be kept

What would it take for us to love like the people we read about in Bibles & biographies? What do we need in order to live in a way that makes our love more than merely emotional, but visible, so that the whole world sees it, and “knows that we are Christ’s disciples”? Is love like this even possible for people like you and me, or is it only given to guys like Paul & James?

Be assured, it’s not God’s desire that love be withheld from anyone. He doesn’t have a limited supply from which He rations it out only to His favorites. Love like this is available to anybody, in great measure, but it comes at a cost. Real love is expensive. Very expensive. Love like this requires becoming the target of animosity & attack. It will mean suffering injustice, receiving opposition, & enduring persecution. And for that to happen, we’ll need the help of our enemies. We can’t do this without them. If you have no real enemies, it’s impossible to fulfill Christ’s command to love them. And if you only love Jesus secretly, you’ll never have any real enemies. This is where it all begins. Only when we’re hated by the world for our undying, undeniably visible love toward Christ will we have a chance to love like this.

Therefore: Love Jesus passionately, and love your enemies unflinchingly…

(And don’t blame serotonin for what happens next).

  

3 Hours & 28 Minutes.

That’s how long you spent standing in the bathroom brushing your teeth in 2018 (if you’re an “average” person). Average people like you invested nearly 3 ½ hours of the past year in cleaning their fangs twice a day for roughly 2 minutes each time. You might’ve been a little more or less devoted to the process than others were, depending on your appreciation for good oral hygiene. Nevertheless, it’s safe to assume that each of us spent at least some measure of time brushing our teeth in the last 12 months.

So let me ask you, was it worth the time you spent? Any regrets? I mean, 3 ½ hours is a good number of ticks off the clock, and we need to make sure that we’re being good stewards of our time. Do you have as many teeth as you did last year? Are you happy with the way they look? Are they still healthy, or are they getting worse? You probably haven’t thought about it very much, but maybe you should. After all, three+ hours is a lot of time, and you’ve got important things to do with your life. If scrubbing your teeth isn’t helping you anymore, maybe you should consider getting rid of your toothbrush next year.

3 weeks, 2 days, & 4 Hours.

That’s how long you spent in the church communing with God’s people in 2018 (if you’re a “disciple” here). The average member of the JFB-Duluth discipleship program invested nearly one full month of the past year in building up the Kingdom of God each week. You might’ve been a little more or less devoted to the process than others were, depending on your appreciation for the things of God. Nevertheless, it’s safe to assume that each of us spent at least some measure of time at the church in the last 12 months.

So let me ask you, was it worth the time you spent? Any regrets? I mean, 23 days is a good number of squares on the calendar, and we need to make sure that we’re using God’s resources wisely. By the way, this figure doesn’t even include the time spent in the mission field, at retreats, campouts, or conferences. But between the nearly 100 sermons, the 50 hours of class time, the outreaches, the workdays, and the small group studies, was it worth the effort? Do you have as much enthusiasm as you did last year? Is the church any stronger because of your investment here? Are you still healthy, or are you getting worse? After all, three+ weeks is a lot of time, and you’ve got important things to do with your life. If your involvement in the church isn’t helping you anymore, maybe you should consider dropping your enrollment next year. Have you thought about this very much? Maybe you should.

Why The Concern?

It might sound counter-productive, or even cruel for a pastor to invite the people of his church to discontinue their participation in the fellowship. But might I remind you, this is precisely what Jesus did in John 6:67 when He asked His disciples, “Do you want to go away?” Lots of His students had already abandoned the group for various reasons, but Jesus wanted to know if there was anyone else who wanted to do the same. Simply put, if someone has a secret desire to get out, then Jesus doesn’t want them to stick around. He knows it’ll be harmful to the Church.

Jesus doesn’t necessarily want people to leave Him or the Church, He just wants them to be healthy. But a hidden craving to be freed from the burden of following Him isn’t really a sign of great strength, which is why He poses the question. Carrying on with a divided heart isn’t healthy in the least. That’s probably why He invites people to leave. Jesus forces people to reevaluate their priorities and decide whether they’ll move forward with unflinching loyalty, or walk away altogether. And it appears that He would accept either decision. He just wants honesty. He just wants a healthy Church.

Are You Healthy?

If you’re unable to look back at 2018 and feel satisfied with the time and effort you’ve invested at this church, the answer is “no”. If you’re not eager to devote another year of your life to this church and these people, then the answer is “no”. If you are living in unrepentant sin (of any kind; emotional, physical, sexual, etc.), then the answer is “no”. If indeed the answer is “no”, then Jesus wants to know if you’d like to leave. He expected His disciples to make that decision in John 6, and He expects the same of us. Sometimes Jesus gives you that responsibility.

There may not be any harmful repercussions for thoughtless tooth-brushing, but the same cannot be said for thoughtless Christianity. It’s possible to follow Jesus year after year and still go nowhere, but the consequences of living that way are devastating. For all their walking with Christ, some folks in the church are gaining no real ground, and sadly, most of them won’t realize it until the very end. People need to decide for themselves what they plan on doing with their life and their future. Jesus expects it of them. This isn’t tooth-brushing after all, this is discipleship.

Another Year Ahead…

Most of us give little thought to the practical benefits of brushing our teeth. We just do it. We do it once in the morning when we’re half-awake, and again in the evening when we’re half-asleep. It’s a short, mindless routine that we’ve been practicing for years now. But, of course, this article isn’t really about dental hygiene, as you well know by now. It’s actually meant to address your spiritual condition. Teeth-brushing just happens to be a suitable illustration for what the spirit-life can easily become for people in the church…a short, mindless routine that we’ve been practicing for years now. If you’re not really aware of what you’re doing here, then the time you’ve spent at the church holds no more eternal value than the 3 ½ hours you spent this year with a brush in your mouth.

Don’t let next year look like that for you. Find out where you’re supposed to be and commit to it. It may be here at JFB-Duluth, and it may not. You are under obligation before God to know what His will is. That takes conscious effort. Much unlike brushing your teeth, it doesn’t happen while you’re half-asleep.

What will 2019 look like for you? Do you consider yourself to be a part of this church or not? Are you happy to be here, or are you secretly restless? Is your spiritual condition healthy & stable, or are you getting worse? Being part of JFB-Duluth means investing a significant amount of your life in the activities of this church, whether that’s hours, days, weeks, or months…

Is this really worth your time?  

When I was a boy, names like Walter Payton, Jerry Rice, and Dan Marino were hard to avoid. Kids like me pretended to be guys like them at recess. They could run & catch & throw a football like no one else on the planet, which made 1987 a memorable year in my childhood, not to mention the entire world of sports. These illustrious men, along with many of their athletically gifted contemporaries suddenly refused to play the game they were all so tailor made & handsomely paid to play. After appearing for the first two games of the season, 85% of the athletes in the National Football League went on strike, refusing to compete any longer. To their surprise, they were met with rigidly strong opposition from team ownership that would rival the most rugged linebackers in the league. One online article states, “The players had no idea just how determined the owners were to break their solidarity”.

On Sept. 10, the Chicago Tribune reported that the team owners voted unanimously to push through a player strike by signing “anyone willing to wear a uniform”. In response to the strike, they hired a ragtag group of bartenders, firefighters, and insurance salesmen to take the field in place of those who refused to do their job. The Washington Redskins hired a quarterback on work-furlough from prison. The defending champion N.Y. Giants found Mike Busch bagging groceries for $4 an hour, and hired him to replace M.V.P. Phil Simms. One way or another, willing men were found, rosters were filled up, and the game went on. Dallas Cowboys president Tex Schramm supposedly made the remark, “You guys are cattle and we’re the ranchers,” at a bargaining session that September. “And ranchers can always get more cattle”.

BARELY WORTH WATCHING…

These replacement players were hardly professionals. Sources report that “Four or five of them got together and bought a used car for 500 bucks so they had transportation. The hardest thing they had to do was find a coat and tie to wear on an away game”. Another article describes how, while playing in New York, “Cowboys’ receiver Cornell Burbage reached into the stands during the game, grabbed a package and placed it under the bench. It was a box of laundry Burbage’s sister had washed for him. He couldn’t afford to have his clothes cleaned at the hotel”. Mocked & scorned by the superstars they replaced and by the country that watched them, these men would quickly come to be labelled and forever remembered as “scabs”. Television ratings dropped, and for good reason. Instead of watching All-Pro wide receiver Jerry Rice, we had to watch a guy named Carl Monroe. Instead of Dan Marino, it was a water aerobics teacher from Texas named Kyle Mackey. I don’t remember any of my friends ever pretending to be Kyle Mackey at recess.

GOOD WHILE IT LASTED…

What turned out to be a momentous disappointment to thousands of NFL fans from coast to coast proved to be the thrill of a lifetime for the scabs. If only for a moment, nameless truck-drivers & bouncers were able to touch the NFL dream. And these men weren’t just “lucky” either. This was much more than some “good fortune”. These men, as unprepared & amateur as they were, had been sought out…chosen for one reason or another, to play on the same field, under the same lights, wearing the same colors, as the league’s biggest names. They didn’t win a lottery; they were offered a position. And they took it. And the only reason these guys ever got the opportunity to run with the ball is because someone else refused to stay on the field. These men played with the understanding that none of them deserved to be there, and that every game could be their last. The strike could end at any time, and if they were going to score any points or make any tackles, they needed to do it while they still had the chance to get it done.

In the end, the NFL strike of 1987 only lasted for a few weeks. The stand-off came to a close, the professionals returned to the field, and nearly all of the replacements were cut from their respective teams and sent back home. Three short games didn’t leave them with much time to make their mark in the NFL history books, but they did it. Maybe not individually, like the Dan Marino’s and the Walter Payton’s do, but collectively, as a team. They were “The Scabs”. And they haven’t been forgotten.

CHANCE OF A LIFETIME…

Jesus says that we are the “poor & the maimed, the lame & the blind” (Lk.14:21). God says He’s chosen the “foolish, weak, & despised” (I Cor.1:27-28). You & I were found in the streets & lanes of the city and given a last-minute offer to attend The Great Supper. We’re nothing more than a ragtag collection of factory workers, teachers, & retailers that were found in apartments, dorms, bars, & parking lots. We’ve been drafted into the biggest contest this world has ever known. And the only reason we were brought in from the “highways & the hedges” to play this game at all is because the first-round draft picks declined their invitation. It’s very likely that somebody else was supposed to be doing for Christ what you’ve been given the opportunity to do, but they just didn’t want to do it anymore.

I wonder how many of us hold positions in the church that were once filled by somebody else who vacated that position abruptly, out of self-centeredness or spite? Blinded by pride & distracted by worldly enticements, they forgot what a privilege it was to do what they do, and they walked off the field. But the Kingdom of God, much like the National Football League, won’t be cancelled just because someone isn’t willing to participate. The team roster is going to be filled no matter what. That’s why you were sought out. There was a vacancy, and you got the call; you’ve been made a once-in-a-lifetime offer. Now are you willing to wear the uniform or not?

It was reported that, “Most of the NFL’s scab rosters (in 1987) were stocked with ordinary dudes from all walks of life who were delighted to jump at the opportunity to play NFL football, even if only nominally and even if just for a fleeting moment”. That should be how we feel as Christians! We’ve been drafted into the service of Christ the King, contending for the glory of our Team Owner! We compete for an eternal prize, not one that fades away like the Vince Lombardi Trophy. We’re on the same field as Paul & Peter, and that should mean something to us! We’re playing under the same lights as Daniel & David, and no one should have to tell you what an honor that is! You’re wearing the same team colors as Jonathan & Joshua & Jacob, and if you aren’t jumping at the opportunity to serve the Lord, “even if only nominally, and even if just for a fleeting moment”, then you’re playing this game for wrong reasons. If you find yourself beginning to feel entitled, and you start entertaining thoughts of going on strike, please remember, it’s not beyond the Team Owner to find someone else with more passion than you have, and let them play in your stead. He’s done it before…

Ranchers can always get more cattle you know.

FINISH THE GAME…

The Washington Redskins were the team that would go on to win Super Bowl XXII that season, thanks in part to their replacement players (or “Scab-skins” as they were called). They pointed their team toward a championship year by winning all three games they were allowed to play. They weren’t professional by any means, but they took their call seriously and got the job done. In March of this year (2018; thirty years after their Super Bowl victory), Redskins team president Bruce Allen announced that the replacement players, the scabs, would all receive Super Bowl rings of their own for the small, but very significant role they played, in their team’s historic victory. Nobody would ever have thought it possible, but those “ordinary dudes from all walks of life” have now become official Super Bowl champions. And this, of course, would include Tony Robinson…

…the quarterback that was hired on work-furlough from prison.

Now, if you’re anything like me, you sometimes feel a bit vulnerable out here on the mission field; under-qualified & unprepared. Nobody needs to remind me that I’m not a professional. No one needs to tell me that someone else could do it better than I am. I’m just a scab. We all made it here on a fluke. But so what? Isn’t it thrilling? Let’s enjoy it while it lasts…even if just for a fleeting moment! Never again will you get an opportunity like this. Never. This is our shot. Let’s endure the mockery and play hard…as hard as we can. Don’t stop until this game is over.

We might not be much fun to watch, but we’re doing what we love; and we might not be too good at what we do, but at least we’re on the field. Nobody will ever know your name, but the world will always remember who we are.

We’re the Replacements. We are the Scabs.

I was once (and ever so briefly) part of a ministry that did some work in California. Years ago, a team of volunteers (myself included) travelled out West together in a great big, 72-passenger school bus, with only one of us in the entire group who was legally qualified to drive it. His name was “Wayne” and Wayne had a Commercial Driver’s License, so Wayne became our chauffeur by default. The trip was over 30 hours on the return, and Wayne drove the whole way, by himself, non-stop, without sleeping. Needless to say, we needed Wayne.

This was risky business. Falling asleep at the wheel, at any point along the way, would have been bad for not only Wayne, but for each passenger stuck in the bus with him…and everybody knew it. That’s why we all took turns up front, sitting on an upside-down pail, right next to Wayne as he drove. All through the night someone was there talking to him, listening to him, watching, sometimes praying. We did whatever we had to do to keep him awake so he could keep on driving. My shift was in the wee hours of the morning, and it was challenging in more ways than one. Not only was there the loss of sleep to cope with, but I also knew that if Wayne crashed the bus, it would be partly my fault. Lives were on the line, so Wayne and I worked together that night. It would be fair to say that Wayne probably did as much to keep me awake as I did for him, but we both made it through the night unharmed.

Not every trip, however, ends as well as ours did. In Polk County, MN on May 7^th of this year, a bus driver fell asleep at the wheel, lost control of his vehicle, and injured a dozen students. Or a couple of months before that in Washington County, TN when a bus driver dozed off, crashed into a tree, and sent 5 students to the hospital. Needless to say, people can get hurt when someone thinks they can drive all the way from “point-A” to “point-B” without any help, especially when they get tired & fall asleep at the wheel somewhere in between. Stories like that aren’t hard to come by if you have access to Google.

…or a church.

We’ve seen lots of folks come into our fellowship over the years who started out with a fair amount of enthusiasm. It lasted for a while, but as the miles ticked by, their interest faded, and lethargy set in. The drive got monotonous and they slipped into what you might call “highway hypnosis”, where they were still going forward, but no longer conscious of it. Even now, I’ll bet it’s happening to some people. They’re getting drowsy. They’re going right along with the traffic flow of church-life like they always do, but they aren’t really paying attention anymore. They’ve been on the road long enough to “settle in”, and a quick nap doesn’t seem as dangerous as it used to. They’ve surrendered themselves to a certain dose of non-lethal sin that’s produced nothing but spiritual drowsiness. The diminishment of their Christian joy & zeal is one of the most obvious side-effects. They’re no longer impressed by deeply significant matters. They’re drifting off to sleep…

 

…And somebody needs to wake them up!

 

You have a responsibility toward everybody else in the fellowship that you may be overlooking. You’re supposed to be paying attention to those around you within the community of believers, talking to them, listening to them, watching them to see if their eyes are still on the road like they should be, and to warn them when they start nodding off. The Lord has told us to do this for one another, and refusing to do so is sin. If they crash the bus, it might be your fault:

“Be careful dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil & unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ” Hebrews 3:12-14

Are you taking your responsibility seriously? What do you do when you see somebody growing cold in their worship? Do you talk to them about it, or are you afraid of bothering them? It’s important to remember that, at this point, we’re all still riding in the same vehicle. Be aware that your own survival, in part, depends on whether you keep the people around you alert to the dangers they face. If you neglect them, they’re liable to turn away from Christ, and if they do, who’s going to keep you from falling asleep like they did? If they drive off the road and crash into a ball of flames, what makes you think that you won’t get hurt yourself? The spiritual lethargy of your fellow passengers should be making you uneasy & anxious. If it doesn’t trouble you, maybe it’s because you’re the one dozing off.

A pilgrimage like ours is a dangerous trek, and none of us are meant to walk alone. Accountability is the golden thread that God has woven into the cloth of Christian fellowship, and when that thread gets pulled out, the entire fabric of a man’s life starts to unravel. We need each other. Some drivers don’t like to admit it, but it’s true of us all:

“Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).

When our ministry team left California that summer, we all trusted Wayne to help us get home safely, and Wayne trusted us to do the same for him. We needed Wayne, but Wayne also needed us. As good a driver as he was, Wayne couldn’t have made it home without our support. Somewhere along the way he’d have fallen asleep and we’d all have been sorry. But unlike some trips, our journey had a happy ending. We made it home safe. All of us. Together.

We all want to get home safe, don’t we? Well then, let’s help each other stay awake.