A church for those who've wasted life - their own and maybe yours too

The Return of the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt

Jesus tells a story in Luke 15 about a father and two sons. It's a story I had the pleasure of getting to recount and explain this past Sunday. The youngest son is often described as prodigal, which means recklessly wasteful. This young man tells his father to his face he wishes he (the father) could die so he (the son) could finally live. The son then promptly wastes what the father gives him in the name of freedom and self-indulgence. In the most happy and surprising turn in the story, this recklessly wasteful son is welcomed home and even celebrated by his father (whom the son earlier wished dead!). The older son, who stuck around serving the father, is furious at the celebration...

As are many of us toward people in churches just like yours and mine. Some of those who sit and stand next to you on a Sunday morning cut corners (even commit fraud!) in their workplaces, have slept the night prior with someone who is not their spouse, and have even hurt you or someone you know. Yet sometimes we think in protest, "Others must know who they are and what they are doing and yet they still welcome such as these, they are still greeted, they are made to feel included." Indeed, we expect the welcome, forgiveness, and call of Jesus to be what transforms a person's life (Titus 2:11-15), not a starting line of moral conformity followed by Jesus' stamp of approval. Otherwise, Jesus would be called the "Affirmer" not the "Savior." For some, truly grasping this grace ("activated love") of the Lord Jesus takes a while and in the meantime such people may even call themselves a "Christian." In fact, I may even be describing you. But if I'm not - I want to appeal to the patience shown to you through Jesus Christ and also to consider the alternative - a church full of older brothers. 

In a small section of his book, The Prodigal God, Tim Keller talks about how during the early years being a Christian was considered abnormal and then helps us consider why we should desire for prodigals to be attending (and sometimes "messing up"!) our churches. I'll quote him at length because what he says is so good for us long-time church goers to hear:

It's hard for us to realize this today, but when Christianity first arose in the world it was not called a religion. It was the non-religion. Imagine the neighbors of the early Christians asking them about their faith. "Where's your temple?" they'd asked. The Christians would reply that they didn't have a temple. "But how can that be? Where do your priests labor?" The Christians would have replied that they do not have priests. "But...but," the neighbors would have sputtered, "where are the sacrifices made to please your gods?" The Christians would have responded that they did not make sacrifices anymore Jesus himself was the temple to end all temples, the priest to end all priests, any sacrifice to end all sacrifices.

No one had ever heard anything like this. So the Romans call them "atheists," because with the Christians were saying about spiritual reality was unique and could not be classified with the other religions of the world. This parable explains why they were absolutely right to call them atheists. 

The irony of this should not be lost on us, standing as we do in the midst of the modern culture wars. To most people in our society, Christianity is religion and moralism. The only alternative to it (besides some other world religion) is pluralistic secularism. But from the beginning it was not so. Christianity was recognized as a tertium quid, something else entirely.

The crucial point here is that, in general, religiously observant people were offended by Jesus, while those estranged from religious moral observance were intrigued and attracted to him. We see this throughout the New Testament accounts of Jesus' life. In every case where Jesus meets a religious person and a sexual outcast (as in Luke 7) or a religious person an a racial outcast (as in John 3-4) or a religious person and a political outcast (as in Luke 19), the outcast is the one who connects with Jesus and the older-brother type does not. Jesus says to the respectable religious leaders "the tax collectors and prostitutes enter the kingdom before you" (Matthew 21:31).

Jesus' teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of his day. However, in the main, our churches do not have this effect. The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted are not attracted to contemporary churches, even our most avant-garde ones. We tend to draw conservative, button-down, moralistic people. The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church. That can only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did. If our churches aren't appealing to younger brothers, it must be more full of older brothers that would like to think.

"It's okay, God will forgive me tomorrow"

It was a rare moment of vulnerability under less than ideal circumstances. My friend's behavior and ongoing consumption were troubling and not a little awkward to observe. I had not intended to run into him that night. Now I felt I couldn't leave, could I? Not at least until he gets home safely. He then said something that was refreshingly raw and honest if not surprising because, hey, I'm his pastor and I'd be preaching again in a couple days: 

"It's okay, God will forgive me tomorrow."

He's right by the way. 

Those who trust in Jesus are relentlessly and continually forgiven by the Father who has accepted them. You may remember when Peter asks Jesus how many times he should forgive and offending brother: "Seven times?," he asks. To which Jesus replies, "I do not say to you seven times but seventy-seven times" (Matthew 18:21-22). Peter is asking: Is there a limit to forgiveness?  Jesus' uses a concrete number in response (I believe to indicate the concrete substance of divine forgiveness) but his overall point is that forgiveness in the Kingdom of God is limitless. 

Two Paths

There are other deterrents to self-destructive choices - what it does to the individual, the fuller life that the individual misses out on, the effect those choices have upon those we love. Much can and should be written on all of these - my purpose for writing is God's forgiveness. Even one destructive choice sets us down a path in which we are prone miss out on God's forgiveness. The objection: "But I thought forgiveness was relentless and continual (see above!)." True, but even just a few self-destructive choices may block the way for forgiveness. It may appear like I'm contradicting myself, but let me explain. 

The book of Proverbs envisions life as the choice between two paths - the path of wisdom and the path of folly (often under different names). Once you set foot on one of those paths, especially the path of folly, you tend to choose what you previously chose - only to a greater degree. 

So Proverbs 4:14-19. You'll notice how quickly any foolish choice escalates. One moment Wisdom is pleading with us: "Don't even think about setting a casual foot or an adventurous, one-night indescretion down the path of wickedness" (vv.14-15). Just like that (cue snap of fingers): A person's very food and drink are the destructive choices they make (v.17). Their rest is no longer sleep but they can only rest by bringing company down to their misery (v.16).

In other words, Proverbs says: Don't even mess with the idea that "it's just one night" or "it's okay to get crazy every once in a while." More quickly than you know: Such behavior becomes your lifeline.

Then the next step quickly follows: "A hardened heart" (Hebrews 3:13) or a "seared conscience" (1 Timothy 4:2). Proverbs 4:19 calls it "deep darkness." This compound Hebrew word is a rare one that Solomon seems to use rather intentionally - it is the same compound word used in Exodus 10:22 of the 9th plague ("pitch darkness in all the land").  That 9th plague - the last one preceding death itself. Solomon is describing a conscience that is no longer able to see through the darkness to tell right from wrong. According to the Wisdom of God, what starts as a casual flirtation, a rare but wild weekend, indulging in something that stokes your curiosity, turning to comfort food to numb some other pain turns more quickly than you would dare believe into a nearly deadened will. One choice, two choices, three choices, and suddenly you find yourself enslaved to keep on choosing what you previously chose.  

"It's okay, God will forgive me tomorrow." Is grace available for the person who has made and continues to make choices to walk down that self-destructive path? Yes. However, by going down that path, I leave myself utterly in the hands of a merciful God. Why risk it?! The deepest and most practical problem with hardened heart, the seared conscience, the blinded spirit is that it can no longer tell it is in need of forgiveness. Justifying, rationalizing, procrastinating - such posturing can rarely again recognize the need for grace. 

Because of the Holy Spirit's quickening what was dead, God has made me alive together with Christ! (Ephesians 2:5). I pray that this gracious resucitation of my dead conscience applies only to my past. Avoid that path, Ryan! Avoid that path, dear reader!

Jesus speaks a better word - getting from the OT to Jesus (Sunday follow-up)

Wherever you open your Bible, you'll turn to some aspect of the life-transforming gospel of Jesus Christ. It won't necessarily be 4 points followed a closing prayer to trust your life to Jesus as Lord and Savior - but it might Moses' willingness to accept blame for sin he didn't commit (which in turn foreshadows us of Jesus' willingness to bear the blame for sin he didn't commit - Exodus 32:32; Isaiah 53:4, II Corinthians 5:21) or it might be an example of sin/idolatry for which Christ died (see also Exodus 32 - the golden calf).

God's prophets were called to speak his word rightly. But each, including Moses, was sinful and none spoke His word fully. Jesus is God's perfect prophet - speaking the words of eternal life (John 6:68-69). Whenever we read the Old Testament prophets, we ought to ask: Where does Jesus speak a similar but better word? This might require a good study Bible or at least a Bible with marginal references (ie. little numbers or letters with Scripture references attached - usually pointing you to the New Testament). I want to introduce you to an excellent resource. Both the online and the print versions of the ESV Study Bible has an amazing section in the back entitled - The History of Salvation in the Old Testament: Preparing the Way for Christ. 

I have posted below from this section a selection screenshots of the OT prophets (including Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos, Jonah, Zechariah). By looking through some of these and their corresponding references, you are training yourself for how to hear God's prophetic voice in the OT and connect it to an even better word spoken or fulfilled by Jesus.  

I deserve anything...

When I ponder the grace of God, I often do so in terms of: "I deserve nothing...yet I've

been given every good gift" (cf. Romans 8:32). This is the passive reception of grace. There is another side of grace, which Tim Keller calls, the threat of grace. It says: "I deserve anything that is asked of me." This is the active response of grace. While re-reading Keller's The Reason for God I was reminded of this side of grace:

Some years ago I met with a woman who began coming to church at Redeemer. She said that she had gone to church growing up and had never before heard a distinction between the gospel and religion. She had always heard that God accepts us only if we are good enough. She said that the new message was scary. I asked her why it was scary, and she replied: "If I was saved by my good works then there would be a limit to what God could ask of me or put me through. I would be a like a taxpayer with 'rights' -- I would have done my duty and now I would deserve a certain quality of life. But if I am a sinner saved by sheer grace - then there is nothing he cannot ask of me."

Here's a woman whose first response to the gospel of grace isn't sheer awe or wonder (as is/was the case for many of us) but: "I'll take any assignment!" I immediately think of Mary accepting her assignment of carrying then raising the Messiah under scandalous glances and rumors (Luke 1:38) or God's arduous assignment to Paul (then Saul) after rescuing him from his bondage to hate (Acts 9:16). 

Yet it is really no threat at all as we are increasingly gripped by what grace has done - you've been chosen! Not because of how good you are on the inside or out, but simply because you are undeservedly loved. A Bridegroom has chosen to wed you (Rev. 19:7) whilst a Father has chosen to adopt you (Ephesians 1:5). A friend of mine, who was adopted around the age of 10, can recall after putting a few of his things into his new home happily declaring: "I'm ready for my first assignment."

Are you ready to receive any assignment He might give you? Your answer will almost certainly depend on whether your heart has yet been gripped by the grace of God.

He Giveth More Grace

I love my local church. The family members for Sunrise Community Church are very dear to me as I hope those on your local branch of God's family tree are dear to you. Sunrise, I want to share something that moved me on your behalf this week.

Our local branch is spending Sundays in April considering the hope and wisdom God's Word offers for different seasons of life, each of which possessing inherent obstacles to our human limitations. For parents: Lack of sleep resources for those in the early years and lack of time resources as the kids get older (very soon for Katie and I: lack of money resources as they ask to go places with friends and off to university Lord willing). For spouses: The constant threat of war when two sinners get married and vulnerably open themselves up to another. Lack of unconditional acceptance you want him/her to change to be more like you (though you don't really want this) and lack of forgiveness because he/she should first say sorry...and maybe even grovel a little. For singles: Lack of clarity with regard to how one should utilize his/her time and lack of self-control to keep returning to God with occasional or regular loneliness  For those advancing in years: Lack of feeling valued by others and purposeful for God. 

Annie Johnson Flint

We have a resource to carry on and through these seasonal obstacles in the God-man Jesus Christ. When fighting to stay faithful for God and live different lives than the world, James reminds us: "But He gives more grace" (James 4:6a). Annie Johnson Flint (1866-1932) took hold of this promise and drank of it deeply throughout her life. Her mother died when she was just two and her father passed away three years later. She trusted her life to Jesus at age 8 and years later began teaching. She taught for 3 years until arthritis (as a teenager!) made it impossible to continue. Within two years, she was unable to walk. She had to give up her dream of being a concert pianist as her body was now twisted up in chronic pain. She spent her remaining years as an invalid, but through it all remained outward-focused, large-hearted in generosity toward others, writing poetry to the glory of God and benefit of others - often enclosed in letters to struggling sojourners like herself. Here is one of her poems that I hope reminds you of the manifold graces available to you through Jesus:

Grace is God's love made active through an undeserved gift. The ultimate grace we have is God himself - God, indeed, is the end goal of the gospel. So when a person trusts Jesus, they are forgiven by and reconciled to God the Father and receive God the Holy Spirit to live with and inside of them (Acts 2:38). The best and leased deserved gift - God Himself!! From Whom flows every other gift. 

My dear friend, in the midst of your seasonal trial: Boldly approach God and ask Him for more grace (Hebrews 4:15-16). Consider: Have you only assumed or actually asked? Grace may come in the form of a provision that reminds you of His presence, an answer to prayer that reminds you he hears not only the formal prayers but the terse and inarticulate grunts, a spiritual gift that sneaks up on you as you serve others (such that someone else has to point it out), a member of the body of Christ generously providing an encouraging word, an unexpected gift or a thoughtful offer of help, a sunset or ocean breeze gift-wrapped for you to enjoy (consider also the burrito and gelato!), a reminder of the cross to help you recall: "Yes, I forgive you again."  

Now that you've asked, take care to pay attention, because James also indicates that gifts are easy to miss because we just consider them normal or, worse, deserved. "Do not be deceived my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift comes from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like the shifting shadows" (James 1:16-17). So pay attention to every good and perfect grace He is puts in your person or presence. And respond by fully pouring it out as an offering back to him through the thanksgiving of your lips and your service toward others - that He might giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.

Giving up stuff I like makes me loathe Lent (*alternate purpose & plan included)

Giving up sweets, throwing away all chocolate, hiding the remote control, heading to bed earlier, putting away beer/wine, a fast from Facebook. This was the Lent of my childhood - except for Facebook (illegitimate for an 80s child) and beer (illegal for any child). Now fasting from these may prove a valuable discipline. I think it was Thomas Merton who once said: We should periodically abstain from any habit or indulgence to make sure we are not, in fact, enslaved to it. It's often when we intentionally remove an indulgence, habit, or possession that we realize it has owned us - not the other way around.  

True fasting is feasting. The 'part of us' we kind of miss lends us opportunity to further feast on Jesus for true life (John 6:57). Thus, the lenten season affords us a deliberate season of time to further experience the generosity of Jesus through taking that initial step of generously giving of yourself. The feast is the goal - not the fast!!

The idea behind Lent is to imitate Jesus who for 40 days fasted from food and abstained every other tempting indulgence offered him by Satan in the wilderness - money, political power, glory, pride (Luke 4:1-13). Why did he do this? To show that he could? No. To show us how we too can be rigorously self-disciplined? That's frightening. He stepped into concentrated evil - 40 years of temptation rolled into 40 days - so he could feast on his two rewards: Making Dad smile and being with the kids (see Isaiah 53:10). To elaborate: 1. Pleasing His Father (John 4:34) and 2. Being with you and me forever (by crediting his perfectly-lived life to our account - thus, he had to face just-like-us temptation without messianic short-cuts but could not falter). Jesus likewise fasted in order to feast.

An alternate and better purpose for Lent. Even as a liturgical past faded, I entered my adult years covertly loathing Lent and I've never really 'done' anything with that. I don't dislike it any longer but I lend to Lent little to no thought.  My heart & head are finally coming together to agree: Lent is not about giving up but getting willingly caught up in the adventure of divine generosity. Generosity is a response to a gift received (John 1:12) and a gift promised (Matthew 6:20). It's that first step that is so dang hard! A true sacrifice feels like a lonely step into oblivion. However, while it always feels like the sacrificial step of giving hurts to the point that it pinches (or even past the pinch!), the final word on the sacrifice is never pain, there is never an isolated gift, there is never an unnoticed deed, there is never an act of generosity that won't be rewarded with further generosity (2 Corinthians 9:11), even as we remember ultimate generosity (2 Corinthians 8:9).

An alternate and better plan for Lent. So I want to encourage you with a better plan for lent: Over the next 40 days resolve to get caught up in the adventure of feasting on divine generosity - and there is no other way than taking that first "pinching" step into what-seems-like-lonely-oblivion.

Here is the practical piece: Get a generosity challenge to your inbox every day until Easter. Sign up here. To the right you'll see a preview from the 40 Acts: Do Lent Generously Challenge. It also includes 3 different ways to complete each daily act (below). Take a moment to ask God if He would want you to join in. Other than receiving communications through obscure Briticisms (get ready for a "chin-wag" on Day 2), I have no idea what to expect but ... I'm up for a bit of adventure.

Your Christianity shouldn't work - A meditation in the middle of 1 John

And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason the world does not know us is because it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we will be like him, because we will see him as he is. Everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 1 John 2:28-3:3

Fellow Christian, knowing that you are "righteous" (2:29) because of Jesus' righteousness, trusting you are a son or daughter of God the Father because Jesus became your brother (3:1-2), acknowledging your status as pure because "he is pure" (3:3), can only help you to live both freely and productively. The victory has preceded the final total, the verdict has preceded the performance, and your adoption has preceded your family resemblance (to Jesus). So you and I are released by Jesus from the fear of not being enough to genuine change because He is enough. 

By most measures, those attracted to
& sustained by the gospel should
be more like Wonka's Veruca Salt.

Consider: Every other religion/life-philosophy attracts and maintains allegiance through (a) works which may or may not be enough on the divine scale or (b) the fleeting results (ie. temporary forms of peace, stillness, vigor, confidence) of rigorous discipline which no one can forever maintain. The gospel message contains an offer to rescue us from death to life, separation to reconciliation, godlessness to God-in-you immediately, permanently, and for free! This should never work as a religion or life-philosophy because all of its adherents would be like spoiled children who always get their dessert at the beginning of every meal and their allowance prior to doing their chores! Yet adherents to the good news have historically done more work of significance and societal transformation than any other (though no such work is required). Furthermore, people who derive life from the gospel message also endure over the long haul in varying disciplines (although rigorous discipline is no condition for entrance). 

Significant works, societal transformation, rigorous self-discipline might not be the phrases you'd use to characterize your life at this point - though you'd wish to. Do not dismay! The process of maturity is typically subtle and non-obvious to the one who is actually changing. This is why the apostle gives us the hope of certain victory 3:1-2: "We shall be like him because we shall see him as he is" (3:2). And so then says: "Everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure" (3:3). During either the heat of battle or tepid doldrums when, in either case, little progress seems to be made, we are reminded that we will one day fast-forward to the likeness and glory of Jesus - at which point we will realize that He had all along been inching our resemblance far closer to the final result than we had imagined.

And at which point, every tongue will confess: It really did work!

Kids & you Fathers that help raise them

I was just reading through an old journal earlier this morning and came across some thoughts in response to the Apostle John's poetic pronouncement of truth (it's not quite hymn/poem nor quite benediction/blessing) in 1 John 2:12-14. Here are the first two poetic pronouncements of truth:

I am writing to you, little children,                                                                    because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake,                                                      I am writing to you, fathers,                                                                             because you have known him from the beginning. 

Fathers, consistently confront your children with the life-altering forgiveness of Jesus - because children have a unique ability to utterly self-forget and focus outward when first awestruck. What happens then at being awestruck? They are able to learn about Jesus without the jaded cynicism, without the colored past that colors our view of Jesus and what we like best about him, without the pressures of adult life that aims to get what we wish to get out of Jesus. When they discern and acknowledge the "Big No" in their own hearts called sin and make the connection to Jesus the Rescuer - they camp out on that bridge! It becomes all about "his name's sake" and there is no other season like this in their lives. 

Earlier this week, we had a night of hockey practice (yes, in the Cayman Islands...lots of wonderful Canadians live here and have brought their beloved hockey!!) and two different elementary school open houses to attend. Juggling the boys on my own at the hockey rink, I came across a decision Katie had made that didn't immediately "sit well" with me. I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve and, while I didn't say anything, the boys detected that I was visibly upset. In between a little chaos here and there, Katie engaged in her own talk with God in the car and humbly apologized to me, which she didn't need to but her example deeply softened my heart. She proceeded to join her own open house where she is an Art Teacher while I set out on my own to engage our boys with our nightly family worship. We talked about the difference Jesus' forgiveness makes. I asked if they recognized Dad's anger earlier in the day: "Uh, yeah, your face told the story" said Mason. I had opportunity to share with them how their Mom responded: Humbly having already sought out and experienced God's forgiveness - and how her example impacted Dad. They both responded with smiles and snuggles (10 & 7 year old boys - getting increasingly rare) and with awe: "Man, Jesus can really do that, can't he?!" The forgiveness of Jesus breaking into real life absolutely captivated them such that we then had opportunity to talk more about instances in the gospels where Jesus humbly extends forgiveness and its softening impact on those who experienced it.

Fathers, remember you can know the One who has been a Father from the beginning. You feel the pressures of caring for a family. Thinking about what you are imparting to them, how to say it/impart it, their education now, their education years from now, balancing time in the office and your travel schedule with time at home. Furthermore, your responsibility for others, as a kind of father-figure, may extend outward over those in a small business, or providing direction for those who care for others. There is One who has been a Father from the beginning, who has cared for every need and been faithful to every promise for generations.  He's had to stomach hard decisions: Kicking Adam & Eve out of the Garden; starting over through Noah; keeping Moses from the promised land, withholding the temple building project from David who dreamed it, and not taking from Jesus the bitterest cup of just wrath -- and all the ones in between both in the Bible and since. All along He's watched each decision profit the person, His people, and His name. He knows. Learn from Him, stay near to Him.

I love you, fathers. God is using you! Keep fighting the good fight as you hold out to your kids the forgiveness of Jesus and hold fast to the faithful Father of every generation. 

Danger of Christian Karma during the charitable Season of Christmas

Many of you - as we have recently done at SCC - have just recently completed filling bags for the hungry to receive a Christmas meal, purchased a Christmas gift for a child who has an incarcerated parent, or even assembled your family to collectively "give back" during this holiday season.

Speaking from a wealth of charitable experience, Peter Greer, President/CEO of Hope International gives us in this brief interview a prophetic warning and opens up about his own "buying-in" to Christian Karma (ie. if I do good, God has no choice but to bless me). These lines alone are well worth the read:

The only antidote that enables us to truly sustain our service is to constantly remember that our service is downstream from the gospel. We fight hopelessness and discouragement by constantly returning to the Cross and the empty tomb. Then we get to work loving our neighbors in response to the grace we've already experienced.

YES! "Constantly returning to the cross" - something I have to tell myself about a dozen times a day for my love to last and with pure, God-ward intentions.

May God richly bless your blessing others this Christmas as you return & respond to the greatest blessing of all - the bottomless fuel of the grace of God expressed through the cross of Christ and the empty tomb. 

Sun AM Follow-Up: How to dish out samples of God's unusual goodness

Yesterday we had opportunity to corporately examine four straight rapid-fire parables about God's Kingdom given by Jesus in Mark 4:21-34 - to which, having heard, some came to Jesus privately and asked for further explanation and understanding. I made the claim: Jesus uses parables like these to offer a sampler of unusual goodness so that those who taste might inquire within. 

Jesus used situations from everyday life to show that just as there is unusual goodness in everyday things like lamps, ingredients for baking, and the family farm - likewise life in Jesus' kingdom is both normal (lived out among marriages, work, schools, etc.) but infused with unusual goodness (eg., marriages are transformed, work becomes purposeful and redemptive, the aim of learning goes God-ward). Jesus' purpose seems to have been to doling out not an exhaustive understanding of life in the Kingdom but just enough unusual goodness that those interested might seek out Jesus afterwards for a better understanding.

As rich as our time in the Word was, I regret not having enough time to get to how those who have already tasted, seen, & taken refuge in King Jesus (Psalm 34:8) might likewise dish out little samplings of God's unusual goodness.

So here are three suggestions for giving others a taste of God's unusual goodness that might lead to further inquiry:

1) One's testimony. A couple weeks ago, we had our annual Testimonies of Thanksgiving Sunday and, per usual, it was so encouraging to hear the saints in our still young church see the pattern of God's plan and equipping in their lives, note how he was moving some of them into a season of trusting in Him alone, give praise for his faithfulness to sustain them with His Word and through Community, and trust Him to do miracles through prayer. 

I went back and re-listened to the testimonies last week. Let me share with you two powerful phrases people used & I want you to try to listen to them as if you were not yet a Christian (and maybe you aren't): "All I really need to be complete is God"; "Having made a hard decision that took some courage, God really opened up the floodgates in our lives."

"Complete in God" - there are all kinds of questions that might emerge. "What does she mean by complete? Family life, inner emotions, sense of purpose? And does this mean God guarantees to tie up all the loose ends in my life?" Those questions are good and can be asked during follow-up, but Lord willing and by the power of the Holy Spirit hopefully the person hears is, "Complete in God" and responds: "Completion sounds really, really good." "Floodgates?! I don't know exactly what that entails, but it sounds really, really good."

So testimonies rarely lead contain full explanations of the gospel - God's plan for salvation - but the Holy Spirit often uses them to give people just enough goodness to cause them to approach you about it later and inquire further.

2) Dole out a "what if" in the face of unbelief. In high school and later as a university student I was highly involved in an organization called Young Life, whose mission is to love unchurched teenagers for Christ. A Young Life club meeting consisted of games, wacky skits, some type of gross food being consumed for entertainment of the masses, fun songs, a short gospel message, and usually one serious or spiritual song. During my years of involvement in Young Life there was one song that I heard more than any other: "What if what they say is true"...

What if what they say is true? / What if you walked on water? / What if you healed disease? / Can you heal me?

What if what they say is true? / What if you rose on Easter? / What if you conquered the sea? / Can you conquer me? 

Looking back, this was a perfect song for a group of curious but unconverted people. A series of questions for people who still say: I don't believe in that stuff. But: What if you did? How would that change your life? Most have not thought through the implications to the question: What if Jesus did rise from the dead on Easter? Most haven't considered how their lives would be different if there was a man claiming to be God, offered life-saving news, predicted his body would rise from death, and then - according to all available accounts - DID! 
Asking "What if" in the face of unbelief is something I'm trying to do. I'll tell you why:

Everyone needs a carrot - a reason, reward, a clear motivating difference to invest even in investigating. I recently read the story of how advertising gave rise to the phenomena of brushing one's teeth. In America, for example, the rise of wealth in the early 20th century brought with it a concurrent rise in the consumption of sugary foods. So many American men drafted for WWI military service had rotting teeth, that the government officials declared dental hygiene a national security risk! And, yet, not even a declaration like this caused more than a few hundred people to brush their teeth. Nothing was working. So a company called Pepsodent hired a world-renowned advertising specialist named Claude Hopkins to try and popularize the use of toothpaste. There were all kinds of reasons to use toothpaste - but Hopkins was onto something - he recognized every person needed to immediately identify with a tangible reward in order to create in them a craving for it. So despite all the medical reasons for toothpaste, Hopkins zeroed in on the "mucin plaques on teeth" which he afterward called "the film." This film is a naturally occurring membrane that builds up on the teeth regardless of how much one eats or how often one brushes. In other words, the film is ultimately harmless. Nevertheless Hopkins pitch over the airwaves: Toothpaste will help get rid of that cloudy film you can feel on your teeth. He then would show people licking their teeth with their tongues and instructed his viewers to do likewise. What happened? People were immediately able to feel the film on their teeth even as they watched the ad. They immediately connected with a reason to buy-in to toothpaste. 

Likewise, if we can help people consider right away some tangible need or some attractive betterment to their life, they might buy-in to at least investigating further. Throwing back to an unbelieving person this question of "What if it was true" causes them to imagine, to visualize for themselves life with a resurrected Lord. The possibility all of sudden seems more possible. The carrot, the reason, the reward has gone from a vague romantic myth to an articulated, shared, "I just said that out loud" possibility of life change.

3) Share thanks for the smallest examples of unusual goodness in regular life. As mentioned before, Jesus used lamps, ingredients for cooking & agriculture because these were items one ran across in during regular life in 1st century Palestine. A parable in fact was, above all, culturally-relevant in its communication of truth. What are such common touch-points in today's culture that express a similar thread of uncommon goodness? This particular method takes some consideration, playfulness, and creativity. Here are just a couple examples that came to mind:

• GoogleMaps GPS. Recently Katie and I travelled to Costa Rica. We rented a car and about half way through the trip started to wonder if that was an unwise decision. Our directions took us off the paved roads and onto barely beaten paths that overlooked unprotected cliffs. And while I had no overseas data nor wifi access, the GoogleMaps GPS tracked my vehicle anyhow and gave us a way out, preventing our children whom we left at home from becoming orphans. It was a totally free service that costs Google money.
• University Scholarships. Recently my eldest stumbled onto this notion (kids are great by the way at helping adults rediscover how undeservingly good some things are). "So dad, colleges will actually pay you to go to their school." "Yes," I paused, "That's pretty great, isn't it." (I wanted to add: "And you may want to look into being a genius or a great athlete because your dad isn't loaded" - but refrained).
• Public Libraries. Books loaned out for free.
• Interest from a bank account. We will protect and insure your money plus we'll pay you for it.

Especially as we consider how accustomed people are to complaint, the hope might be to express: The King is still present here & showing Himself to us through uncommon goodness - if we would but open our eyes to see. I tested out the GoogleMaps GPS example this morning on a few people in a coffee shop I frequent - one of whom responded: "Never thought about that. That's a pretty positive outlook. Any more good news you can tell me?" Um....yes!!! I mean the Holy Spirit just opened the door to respond to the question: Any more good news you can tell me? 

Final Word. As I've tried encouraging you here with how you might give others a taste of God's goodness, I recognize the questions arise: But shouldn't I also explain about the costliness of following Jesus? Shouldn't I relate to them about how it's not always easy, that I still have doubts? Should we not also present to them a clear understanding of sin and the best news of all that trust in Jesus is the solution for sin against a Holy God? Of course, these essentials need explanation and there will be time for that - but in the knowledge that no one consumes a meal in one bite, let's first give them a taste of the unusual goodness of life in God's Kingdom that they might further inquire about these other essentials and so consume the whole message of the gospel.

The Myth of Marriage Problems

Despite the title of this post, I really am writing to encourage you to sign-up for the Art of  Marriage Event on May 24-25 (this Sunday = last day to sign up). I do not at all mean to suggest that you are not experiencing problems in your marriage nor that you, as a result, do not need the tune-up or overhaul that I believe God can and will provide through the Art of Marriage (AOM). It's just that we unknowingly misplace the blame.

One of my favorite quotes on marriage comes from Dave Harvey, author of When Sinners say 'I Do'. He says:

How easy it its to use the phrase, 'We are having marriage problems,' as if the marriage created them.

Marriage still remains, in and of itself, an inanimate object incapable of producing anything - however, the two persons in a marriage are capable of producing problems. Hence the title of Harvey's book: When Sinners Say 'I Do.'  This means your worst fears, yes, will probably be realized. As someone who has signed up for the AOM Event said to me a few days ago: "Over the last month I haven't voiced frustrations to my spouse because I was waiting for the weekend to come so he can begin to identify his problems - then I realized, 'Yikes, maybe God wants to identify problems in me.'" 

Fear in marriage. ID-ing problems in you is almost certainly the case and might cause us to fear. This is similar to reading 1 John as we've started doing on Sunday Mornings - John forces you to re-examine if your faith is legit and to question if you really and truly know Christ. And, as I asked this past Sunday: What's the worse that can happen if you realize you are a massive problem to your marriage or wake-up to the reality that you really haven't trusted your life to Jesus?

Grace in marriage. See, the great thing about Jesus and encountering His plan for marriage is that He freely offers us this treasure that is totally foreign to what the world's solution and totally different from an improvement strategy that other religions would propose. That treasure is grace. Grace is God's love made active through an undeserved gift. That means at any moment -- even a moment of doubt, fear or even despair -- God can activate His love toward you even though you neither did anything to deserve it nor pushed a magic button to activate. All we have to do is really admit we need of His help and rescuing. 

God's grace can change a marriage. If you recognize that you need God's help to be the spouse He calls you to be (notice not: "If you recognize your marriage needs God's help") and, through the conference, identify specific idols, bad habits, and hurtful attitudes, I'm confident He will begin to activate His love toward you (ie. show you grace). I'll give you two ways the Bible talks about grace and which I'm specifically praying for every person attending - (1) He will help you and your spouse truly put the past behind you (forgetting) and (2) He will patiently teach you how to say "No" to all the potential idols, bad habits, and hurtful attitudes that used to beset you (buttons you used to push to get what you want or a desire to get in the first and last word on an issue). Here is what God's Word says about how His grace through Jesus helps with both (1) & (2). 

Not that I have already obtained this (being exactly like Jesus) or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me . Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining for what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus     (Paul in Philippians 3:12-14).

People don't just forget the past and move on. The past creeps back in or comes back up. It always does - apart from real grace. Not just an admission of guilt with an admission of forgiveness, but real divine power within that forgiveness that heals. 

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It [grace] teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age   (Titus 2:11-12).

The grace of God is a patient but effective teacher to help you grow as a husband or wife. You can believe that God is going to change you and your spouse as you rely on His grace.

Take a chance on the AOM Event even though you will have to admit you need help - that's exactly the place where God can begin to activate His love in your life and that of your spouse.

R.I.P. Brennan Manning (1934-2013)

I found out a couple nights ago that Brennan Manning died over the weekend. My response consisted of a few tears and a simple, "Thank you, Abba, for Brennan Manning."  
Manning was not the first to speak or write in great depth about knowing God as our "Abba" (an colloquial and familiar term for "father" in Aramaic, roughly translated to English as "PaPa" or "Daddy") nor was he the first to write about the wonder of God's grace or the relentless pursuit of God. However, he was my first teacher each of these concepts that have shaped my life even as they have since been distilled and refined through Holy Scripture, more steady theologians in history, and the invaluable gift of experiencing each of them through the Holy Spirit. 

Early on as new Christian, I searched for books to learn and know more in the first place I knew I could find them - the small bookshelf next to my parents' bed. It was there just a year before my university years that I stumbled upon The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning. In his various literary works and through his speaking, Manning openly shares of his vast array of life experiences - his reluctance in entering priesthood to serving in the military, leaving the priesthood for the love of his life - Rosalyn, to the trauma of his alcohol addiction which later ruined his marriage to the same woman, spending six months in a cave in the Zaragoza desert to living among the poor with his Franciscan brothers. A summary of his zig-zag life can be found here on his official website.

As I reflected last night on his life, three impressions linger on my life:

1. You can learn and grow from someone you don't wish to imitate. The apostle Paul encourages the church of Corinth to "imitate me as I imitate Christ" (1 Cor. 11:1). There are and should be such actual persons that the Lord places in our lives whom we desire to largely (though not completely) imitate. Brennan Manning was not such a person. By all accounts his alcoholism - and specifically frequent omissions of its current toll on his life and lack of transparency toward those close with him regarding its pernicious stronghold on him - took his life. He drifted from the accountability structures and care he so needed from the local church - under the cloak of past hurts from Christendom's largest denomination. He brought significant hurt to his family. He often bordered on radical inclusivism that was far more broad than trust in Jesus alone for salvation and made many missteps when taking ethical stances on issues like homosexuality. BUT Manning was stubborn about grace (God's love made active through an undeserved gift) - both in his writings and his life. He fell a lot but kept getting back up off the mat. I learned that God not only loved me but liked me, that God had a deep and very personal love for sinners he liked to call ragamuffins (people who don't have it all together and are bumbling through life), I learned about a vast witness of various persons throughout history who had within them a testimony to the grace of God - Old English and modern fictional writers only found in history classes, obscure theologians and mystics from the middle ages, political leaders, modern teenagers who spoke better than they knew. A cast so wide-ranging and strange that I wondered if he made half of them up and then assigned to them wise quotes and awe-inspiring stories. 

This is a strange consolation to someone in my line of work. While I hope to someday be a person whose life is worth imitating, I don't think I'm there yet. However, I am confident my family, those closest to me, even the dear people of Sunrise whom I get to serve can even still learn and grow from me.

2. Manning was a flesh & blood reminder that the world is not my home. In 2000, I received the surprise gift of getting to go on a retreat weekend with Brennan Manning and a few other persons in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It was a wonderful weekend! Each person had opportunity to sit down with Brennan for a kind of appointment. I made use of this opportunity as well as a late night in the den speaking with a few others present to pepper him with various questions about his writings, advice/counsel, more information on certain topics he discusses elsewhere only briefly. With each, Manning's answers were relatively pat and unusually resigned - all the while being as polite as possible. He had this look about him during that time (and others who have spent time with him on occasion confirm likewise) of wanting to be done with it. I am quite confident by this point he was wholly beset by his battle with alcoholism. Since then, every time I read these words I think of Manning:

For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened...we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord (II Corinthians 5: 2-4, 8)

Manning's closest spiritual kin was singer/songwriter Rich Mullins, who named his band The Ragamuffin Band after Manning's bestselling work. The two were very close. Manning, was so devastated by Mullins' young and untimely death that he couldn't bear up to show up and give the eulogy at his funeral. Rich Mullins was a bit of a human "misfit" -- socially awkward, ready even at the height of his fame to humbly ask to sleep on someone's sofa (he actually asked this of a friend of mine). He, thus, similarly at times seemed to be done with this life. 

I worry sometimes that this life and my lifestyle fits me too well, when my true home & citizenship lie elsewhere. These are two men remind me of a far greater future hope and reward that tends to motivate Christians less and less in an age whose average lifespan continues to trend upward. But more importantly it just makes Katie and I especially happy (and she said this to me last night) that Brennan in particular is with Jesus now. He looked forward to this day more than most.

3. The relentless pursuit of God through the grace of Jesus Christ. Manning wrote encouraged, exhorted and discipled me on this all-important, life-transforming, soul-satisfying subject during the formative years of my Christian life. 

My favorite Manning quote which I can still recite from memory: "The deeper we grow in the spirit of Jesus Christ the poorer we become - the more we recognize that everything in life is a gift and then the tenor of our lives becomes one of humble and joyful thanksgiving."

Thank you Brennan Manning for starting me down the road of recognizing both my true poverty and the great wealth I possess in Jesus Christ. And thank You, Abba, for Brennan Manning. 

Forgiveness: You heard the sermon, now Sing the Song

Yesterday receiving the Word & responding in Worshipping under the big top, I had the privilege to teach on Step 4 in making relational peace between two persons. Step 4: Go & Be Reconciled (Matthew 5:23-24). My sermon in a nutshell was this: Don't miss your moment to cap-off the peacemaking process by verbally extending forgiveness.

I was searching all week for the perfect song that might complement the message and help us respond in praise and obedience to God's Word. Doh! Found it a day late. Chalk it up to God's will. Thanks to Susan Vivas who posted this song on her Facebook Page. It highlights nearly every point I wanted to make, did so through song, and did so in under 4 1/2 minutes (I know, I know: "If only Pastor Ryan had found this earlier vs. 35 minutes plus spilling Harquail pond water on the stage").

The song is "Forgiveness" by Matthew West.  Posting it here:

• It's the hardest thing to give away...help me now do the impossible. Check.
• And the last thing on your mind today. Check. One of the major reasons I showed clip of Mike Steenkamp (Reeva Steenkamp's uncle) extending forgiveness to his niece's killer (runner Oscar Pistorius). Because of the public spotlight & universal scope of the opportunity, it was easier for him not to miss his moment. But for us (and Jesus' audience in Matthew 5), the need to extend forgiveness is often the last thing on our minds and we, thus, so easily miss our moment.
• It always goes to those who don't deserve. Check. Hey, just like each of us - who are ill-deserving of Jesus' forgiveness.
• It's the opposite of how you feel. Check. Hence, replace feelings WITH ACTIONS and the story of my friend who mowed that dude's lawn even though his first inclination was to tear him a new one. Act and feelings will often follow. 
• It takes everything, you just have to say the word. Check. When Jesus talks to his disciples about the power of forgiveness that He is entrusting to them (see John 20:22-23), the application for our lives is to actually speak these particular words: "I forgive you" versus offering a "no worries" - "no big deal" - "we're cool" response.
• It'll clear the bitterness away, It can even set a prisoner free. Check. "Unforgiveness is the poison we drink hoping others will die" to quote Ken Sande formerly of Peacemakers Ministries. Letting it go frees us from the poisoning.
• Help me now to give what You gave to me. Check. Ideally forgiveness comes as a natural response or overflow from considering, meditating on, cherishing, the forgiveness Jesus extends to us through his cross. "Bear with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgive each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive" (Colossians 3:13).     

Awesome stuff. I've already bought the song to remind me of my need to forgive and then re-initiate forgiveness when total recall (the old grudge, desire for judgment) springs up when I least expect it. 

Mailing it in

Urbandictionary.com defines Mailing it in as: slang for doing the least amount of work possible to produce a adequately finished product. 

I want to be honest with those whom I am privileged to serve as their pastor - I mailed it in this past Sunday. 

I continually get to experience the grace of God (His love for me made active through a undeserved gifts) - and last week was no different. I had some wonderful times of fellowship with folks in the church and Katie and I were led one sweet night last week to stop our busy-ness and spend an evening giving thanks and praise to Jesus. But basking in the glow and a spirit of contentment, I mentally/spiritually felt myself begin to mail it in as it pertains to Sunday worship. Joshua 9 contains such a straightforward and practical message about seeking the Lord in prayer when making important commitments - I felt I had a pretty good handle on the passage (pride!) and decided I'd focus on enjoying my kids and the beautiful back half of the week/weekend (the best time of year weather-wise in Cayman has begun - breezy & cool). So while I worked on the sermon, put together an order of worship, and coordinated with other key Sunday Worship co-laborers, I sort of just trusted the Scripture passage and my heart to get in the right place in the nick of time. But upon arrival Sunday morning, I felt distanced from others and everything going on -- this distance continued during and after the service as well. So, first of all, I'm sorry dear brothers and sisters of the Sunrise Family. I did not serve you well. I also don't mind saying: If Sunday's message encouraged, convicted, or produced fruit through you, then it is entirely by the grace of God!! Praise be to Him!

I don't know if you've experienced a similar phenomenon - your heart begins to distance itself ("prone to wander, Lord I feel it" as the great hymn says) from what God has called you to do and how he has called you to work - as an employee, as a husband/wife, as a mom/dad, as a member of a community, as a volunteer. I have too. And I've had better moments, where God helped me to stop mailing it in before it started. 

Here are three strategies I've found helpful for putting a stop to a mail-it-in moment:

(1) Pray for those whom you serve and those with whom you work.

I don't know the nature of your particular line of work or vocational calling. Some of you serve others fairly directly in your work- nurse, teacher, HR, sales, pastor, etc. But for those of you whose work affects other companies with a very slow trickle down effect to real people, even still you recognize your work affects more directly those with whom you work - your example of working hard and working hard so they never feel they have to pick up your slack. 

One of the ways to stop a mail-it-in moment in your work is to care so deeply about persons involved to the point that you would desire and believe your work would provide significant benefit and/or growth in their lives. 

How do you care more about persons you serve or with whom you work? It's not a matter of thinking of other people more. According to a report published by the U.S. National Scientific Foundation, our brains produce somewhere between 12,000-50,000 thoughts per day. Of these thoughts, 10-25% are directly fixed upon other persons. This means that at least 1200 thoughts you have per day are about other people. And yet you don't necessarily walk away from a thought caring about that person more. The thought just passes by. 

The apostle Paul gave us a great example of how to care about such persons more - taking an otherwise passing thought and praying it. For Paul, prayer would lead to love and love would lead to prayer - a cycle of praying passing thoughts about others whose GDP is love. Listen to how Paul's prayer for the people of the church in Philippi lead to love and then love leads to prayer:

[Notice a thought...a 'remembrance' leads to prayer] I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from this day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. [Here comes love!!] It is right for me to feel this way about you all because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. [love that now leads to prayer] And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more...(Philippians 1:3-9).

It's easier to persevere in the work your doing when your love increases for those who stand to potentially benefit from the work. 

(2) Make sure you enlist others to be prayerfully invested in your work.

When I pray for something for someone, I am invested. I wish to know what happened. What did God do? How did something I got to be a part of turn out?

You might not believe it, but a simple weekly request of your Community Group or a group of close friends to pray for you will help them become more invested in your work - even if you have, in your opinion, the most boring job in the world (#3: Construction Flag-Traffic Person; #2: Exit Sign Designer; #1: Pillow filler). 

And when you know others are praying, it gives you more confidence that God is at work in your work. He is helping you, using you, and doing things in and around you which you previously never even thought or conceived of.  

In the above passage from Philippians 1, notice Paul had enlisted the Philippians who were "all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel." Paul's life work was a defense and confirmation of the gospel. The Philippians were prayerfully invested. As were the Ephesians, whom Paul also enlisted: "Pray also for me, that words may be given me so that I might fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might declare it fearlessly as I should" (Ephesians 6:18-19). 

I have enlisted a few key individuals, who showed interest in praying that God's Spirit would powerfully use my preaching, the worship, greeter teams, audio-visual volunteers, children's ministry workers to greatly glorify Himself on Sunday Morning. They have now begun to gather about 30 minutes before the service to labor in prayer. I have a higher level of confidence knowing that my persevering in my work will be worth it - it is going to be used by God as it prayed for by friends!!

(3) Work hard and expect second-hand results

Christ's hard, literally excruciating work on the cross for us produces in us a surety about our spiritual status before Him (we are in the Family!!), which in turn produces great contentment and deep joy. Yet He asks us to respond to His work with work of our own. This response, thus, does not include: "Let go and let God." This was my mistake last week - I understood God's work for me but misunderstood what was the proper response. I let go and let God -- and so let my work go. 

The Bible says I ought to work hard on my growth as a Christian (Philippians 2:12), to work hard at the mission God has assigned me (Colossians 1:28-29a), and work hard at my job (1 Corinthians 15:10c). So I should expect to work.

But as I work, something funny sometimes happens: I trust that my hard work ought to produce results. Such that, if those I serve or with whom I work don't immediately respond to my work, I am prone to become insecure some times, depressed at other times, and embittered at still other times. Such that I am tempted to mail-it-in next time around. 

Our Father knows the human heart, however. So He reminds us of something else - there is Someone else working with and through us. So the Apostle Paul completes all the above thoughts about hard work: 

• It's "God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13)
• I struggle to live out the mission God has assigned me "with all his energy that he powerfully works within me" (Colossians 1:29b).
• When working hard at my job, I'm reminded with Paul: "It was not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me" (1 Corinthians 15:10d). 

In each case, the Lord is faithful to show up in my hard work - to give me strength to do the work and the grace to produce results that possess a certain authority and finality. I'm reminded of Joshua, who in between inconvenient, mundane obedience (circumcision and observing Passover - Joshua 5) and daunting but thrilling obedience (marching around a city while singing with friends while they waited for the miracle of crumbling walls - Joshua 6), has the pre-incarnate Christ visit him in the form of a Warrior, sword in hand. Help with the very task with which he needed help and results. Jesus present to initiate, then join, then win the fight! Jesus produces second-hand results as Joshua works hard. Jesus is the second (and most important) hand.

A slightly more modern person who exemplifies this tension of hard work and second-hand results is George Mueller. Mueller preached in a local church every week for over six decades in 18th century Bristol, England. But he most is famous for his tireless work with orphans. Through Mueller's work and influence, the care of orphans in England skyrocketed from 3000 to over 100,000 by the end of his life. Mueller famously said about work: "Work with all your might, but trust not the least to your work." 

In other words, don't expect your work will secure for you anything or yield results in-and-of-itself. Unless the grace of God goes with you, does the work, and produces the results, it will be in vain. And Mueller lived out this saying. He never (never!) solicited charitable funds for his orphans. He simply prayed and relied totally on the grace of God - monies would show up, often anonymously, at his doorstep and often just as the last shilling had been spent. He didn't trust His own efforts but for God to work.

You do your part, trust Jesus do His. We are freed to persevere well in our work when we can trust God to take care of giving us the strength to do it and producing the results to win the day! If people don't respond to your work, well, that's His problem.