For those of you who minister from the Calvary Chapel persuasion,
I bid you greetings from the grounds of Warm Beach Camp in Stanwood,
Washington, home of the 2002 Pacific Northwest PastorÕs Conference. For those
of you with other mental and religious persuasions I bid you peaceful
salutations.
I wanted to wait until the conference was over before I
began this weekÕs message, even though I knew that I would not be able to
devote the time that I usually spend in this preparation. This, is perhaps a
good thing for a number of you. In any event, I would just propose to share a
few of the thoughts that I have had these last few days. These have helped me
refocus and view the direction that seems ahead. Something, I have not had
time, or inclination, to perform for some time.
I found it quite humbling that there was continuity
between these weekly messages, with the limitations of the author and the
medium, and the thoughts, and the theme of much of the conference. This is
especially true, when most of these people, I do not know personally, but have
heard of them and there reputations for being men of God led by the Holy
Spirit. In the short of it, everything tied together at a much deeper level,
than I have previously experienced. The topics were so diverse, still they
provided great insight into what is required to answer the call of God.
Something I believe all (saint and pagan) must answer in some way in their
lives.
Following the way God leads us is not the easy path of
the heroic conqueror we many times imagine. At times you know you have
difficult things to say, that some people are not going to like. Alas, I will
save you those words for next week and the time beyond. But the thing that is
important, no matter how we judge the words, either that we create, or are
created by another, we must keep in mind that the Christian faith is a
religious paradigm by which personal righteousness rests in the work, life, and
love of the person, and the personality of God and Jesus Christ.
That imputed righteousness is a free gift, that cannot be
earned. But sad to say, much of the so called Christian church does not even
understand that message. That being said, how impossible is it for them to move
beyond that simple gift, into the present life and the future grandeur that God
has prepared for His children.
At the close of the conference as we were in the process
of preparing for communion, Wayne Taylor was sharing about Elisha and the
decision to build a new house, a bigger house (2 Kings 6). How as they were
cutting beams for the new house the ax head fell into the Jordan River, and how
a stick (a piece of tree) was required to allow that ax head to float. That
tree illustrating a miracle and being a type, or illustration of the cross of
Jesus Christ.
He then continued to share about the diverse and
distinctive gifts of the many pastors and ministers that have gone out from his
church. How most of them had a desire to do it better than they learned from
him. Many of you are of that lineage,
not unlike Elisha and his followers.
At that point my own mind began to wander. As a proponent
of individual diversity and gifts, I mused if perhaps Wayne had read too many
of my articles. Even more discouraging, I began to wonder if perhaps I also had
written to many of these compositions. While I would not call it a literal
vision, that many would say a vision would be, this concept appeared in my
mind:
I thought about how a tree is used for fuel, and to make
a big tree (or a wooden cross) burn, generally it must be cut into fuel size
pieces. Those pieces are in turn split with an ax, into fuel logs. Some of
those logs are further split into kindling, to be burned to help start the
fire, Through the fire we have warmth and security, the ability to cook our
food, and to have light in dark places.
However, if we just continue to split the wood into more
and more distinctive and diverse pieces, all we are left with is a big pile of
toothpicks. If the fire never comes, the toothpicks will eventually decompose,
or rot into acidic humus. That is the natural order of decay. If the spark comes
and sets the pile on fire, it is quickly consumed and all we have left is
carbon dioxide, water, and a small rubble of ash.
Both these products are really illustrations of the
evangelical church today, poor grade fertilizer and ashes. The toothpick tragedy
is that everyone who sees these products has no concept of the tree from which
the enterprise process began.
Not only have we lost the forest for the trees, we have
lost the trees for the toothpicks, or the ashes. In the case of the Christian
cross of Christ, it must be said that these are holy ashes and holy toothpicks.
But where is the life?
You can cut down a tree to make a cross, in that process
the tree loses its life. In the church we can promote individuality, the
personal salvation experience, and progressive sanctification to such a point
that all you are left with is holy toothpicks, dead and decaying.
But Christianity is about Jesus, the Son of God, the Son
of man, who rose from the dead, who makes dead things alive. What we have lost
in the process of the enterprise of evangelical toothpicking is the glory of
God expressed in the cross. Eternal life, present peace, is only found in that
cross.
Now is the time for a bunch of holy toothpicks, and dead
ashes, to allow God Almighty to put the tree back together. Ponder the forest
of those thoughts as you continue through this week.
Kelley, WayneÕs brother, shared in devotions this morning
how difficult it is to tell people things they donÕt want to hear. I told him
afterward that this was the most encouraging, discouraging word I had ever
heard from him. For my part, I will spare you this week the finer points of
what I have learned these last few days, especially in the bigger whole of
KelleyÕs application . That will begin with next weekÕs installment. In that
respect intercession is needed, if not for me, then at least for you.
Until that time, may the LORD bless you bountifully by
keeping you in His Word.