Tim F. Thornton's Blog

I felt inspired to write a letter to the churches, both Kindred and the others in our reach, relevant to our times after having a dream, and at the same time to process out and share some elements of a teaching at our church gathering from last weekend. I’m both giving what I feel God uniquely gave me and singing harmony with Blaine and Anthony here. It’s maybe part apostolic teaching and part the ravings of a drunk on the Spirit mad man. Hope you have ears to hear something helpful or encouraging as we process out being the people of the kingdom in some interesting times.

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Every once in a while God asks us to step over a boundary and enter into a new land. To expand our boundaries with courage. To venture into unprotected spaces. To heed the call and step forward. To take a step of faith. 

There’s one boundary God’s been pushing me to cross for more than 10 years: to share in writing the in-depth story of my journey out of feminism and the things I’ve learned along the way. I’ve started and stopped several times over the years already; the words come inconsistently, in jolts, surrounded by tears and deep heart pangs. I didn’t know how difficult it would be. It’s beautiful to recount our story together through the years, but the words are not easy words to write. They are vulnerable and I feel exposed, uncovered. They recount the deep rescue of my heart, yes, but they also bring me back to all my feelings of loneliness and my longing for a voice, an identity, and a place to belong. The stories address my pride, my identity, my bad confessions and judgments. They address justice, righteousness, principalities of darkness, and the nature of the kingdom. They are some of the deepest waters of my redemptive story and my inner life of love and pursuit by God. They are the altar stones of remembrance I carry with me. To write and share them feels like I’m throwing wide the gate for “open season” on one of the most profound and transformational parts of my journey.

Jesus knows this feeling. He knows how it feels to put his heart on the line. He knows what it feels like to offer vulnerably, to speak up, to tell the story of the kingdom of God and how it turns the kingdom of the world upside down, to step over boundary-lines of what you’re supposed to say and how you’re supposed to say it. And he knows how it feels to be judged, rejected and ultimately silenced by the very people he came to rescue. Yet, amazingly, he didn’t live a guarded life. He didn’t defend his own name or honor. He didn’t shrink back.

“But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.” (John 2:24-25)

He “kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.” (1 Peter 2:23)

The threat of rejection and accusation is real, folks, especially in the age of cancel culture and the warfare of religious and political spirits that seek to categorize, divide and shame us. It was real for Jesus, too, and he experienced it. He was ignored, mocked, publicly shamed, betrayed by some of his best friends, beaten, and killed alongside criminals. But his life and his blood made a way for us: his life showed us how to live in intimacy with God with an open and soft heart, and his blood satisfied the holiness of God on our behalf, it settled the problem of our sin and guilt, and it answered the accusations of our enemies.

What else could possibly stand in the way?

I would be willing to bet that we all have these sacred testimonies of God’s redemption that feel a little too close to the heart to share. That’s one reason I wanted to bring my process out into the open rather than just skip to the meat of the stories. Our sensitive stories must be shared. I think you must share; we must share. They are the stories of how the blood of Jesus is appropriated to bring redemption to every part of our lives, our histories, our memories, our futures, our identities. They are the stories of how the gospel of Jesus Christ increases within us and transforms us from the inside out. The world is in desperate need for lovers of God to stand–like Jesus–in the face of fear, silencing, rejection and public shaming and offer stories of redemption in love and humility. Now is time to remember how powerful our stories are: “They overcame him [the accuser] because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony” (Revelation 12:11).

Our sharing might be imperfect. Our stories might be incomplete. No matter. Cross the threshold. Expand the boundary. We no longer have any reputation to protect; our “life is hidden in Christ.” (Colossians 3:3)

As for my own threshold-crossing, I’m feeling sufficiently encouraged in writing this to promise a series of upcoming posts about my decades-long healing journey into a more empowered, unshackled life than I ever experienced as a feminist. Stay tuned.

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I see myself on the banks of that river. I have long silvery hair; we’ve already traveled far together and for many years. But now we’re on the bank of the river and I’m on my knees and my wrists are shackled to you. I wear your brand on my heart. You extend your hand to me; there’s a scroll in it and you spread it out in front of me. 

These are the cries of my heart, you say. They are the words of my injury at the rebellion of the people I have chosen. My agony. My dirge. My songs of mourning, of loneliness, of desire spurned. Will you eat it? Will you take it into yourself and carry it with you? Will you partake of my pain and bear my burden? 

The questions ring like a cracked, dusty bell somewhere inside me. I pause. I feel the weight of the moment. Christ sharing his suffering with me. Like someone pulling me down to the ocean floor, to the deepest of the deep. Will I be able to breathe there? To feel the depth of pain that resides in the heart of God, his fury at unrighteousness, his longing like a mother whose kids have squandered their upbringing and rejected her. Can I bear it? Will it shatter me forever, crush me under its gravity? Will it take me out, overwhelm me to the point that I can’t function? Depress me, make me too sad and internal to engage? 

But your eyes catch mine. They are full of tears and love and life and fire. They are full of yearning—for them, for me. I look at the shackles that bind me to you and they become long chains of stems and leaves and bright flowers woven around and through and under. Their scent hits my nose like the first spring shower, like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day. Addictive. Warm. The pull to the ocean floor gets stronger and I release myself to it. I let it carry me down as I open my mouth to the scroll. It goes down thick and slow, sweet like honey and I’m undone by wild eternal emotion taking up residence in my belly. My eyes open to color and motion and I’m breathing as if for the first time though I’m under water. At once I’m in the dark ocean and taking off in flight. I soar with your willingness, your mercy, your empathy, your grace. And I’m sunk in your longing and loneliness, carrying around in my body the dying of Jesus. 

Yes. Yes I will eat. Yes I will eat again and again. To be with you in the depths and the heights. To feast on your sorrow. 

“Now you, son of man, listen to what I am speaking to you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you. Then I looked, and behold, a hand was extended to me; and lo, a scroll was in it. When He spread it out before me, it was written on the front and back, and written on it were lamentations, mourning and woe.” Ezekiel 2:8-10

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It’s been 4 years since we’ve regularly posted here. So much has happened during that time: we (despite our best efforts) planted a church , Tim shifted his weight to co-vocational ministry and started a business, we’ve undergone a huge paradigm shift about the kingdom and the local church, our littles have grown into adventurous and creative people in their own right. The only music we’ve played in a while is at our favorite Sunday afternoon bluegrass jam at a local tap room.

Our focus on loving each other well, parenting, business, learning to be faithful in our local work, and a firm commitment to growing grey hair have left this field fallow for a while, but the time feels right to do some more consistent posting here now. We’re giving ourselves permission to share whatever we want: little insights gleaned along the journey of life and our processes with God, maybe some art, new music, teachings that have been important for us and our community, and perhaps even some poems and partially-formed thoughts questions, and spiritual wrestlings. Who knows?

Many of you have kept in touch to some degree or have wanted to hear more from us over the years and this sounds like a welcome connection point. Thanks for tracking with us through the different seasons of life. Others of you might not really even fully know who we are or why you would want to hear our thoughts, much less partially formed ones! That’s cool, feel free to unsubscribe.

For those who want to come along, hello again.

The post Hello Again appeared first on Tim and Laurie Thornton.

I was reminded us a few weeks ago that we weren’t in the season of COVID-19. We were in the season of Lent. I believe part of the way God is redeeming the coronavirus is that he has the church on a Lenten fast to help us break our addiction. Our addiction is to a good thing, but the way we have tried to make it more than it can be deactivates the majority of believers and reinforces a clergy laity/divide that has trying to run our race with our ankles hobbled. Can you guess what it is?

Church services. 

Just like I might fast from sugar, coffee, or alcohol not because they are wrong but because I may lean on them too hard, of course church services aren’t wrong either, but the way we’ve made them the center of everything is keeping us from the fullness of life available and is keeping us from fulfilling the main thing Jesus asked us to do! 

Jesus didn’t make a stage and a microphone the center of the church, he made the table the center of the church. He said to do this in remembrance of me, not when he ministered to the crowds, but when he gathered his family of disciples close to eat his body and drink his new covenant cup, and to share his love and his pain with them. 

A church service can make converts, but only opening your life to someone can make disciples. 

But we as a culture have forsaken disciple-making for church services.

Even for those of us who are deeply investing in trying to systematize the things that make a healthy spiritual family expression of church (Missional Community etc.) there is a very real danger that we will see the system as something powerful outside of ourselves that God does his thing through, when in fact he has chosen to do his thing through us, each member of his church. 

The great thing about systems and structures is that they can help people feel comfortable, help us see where we’re blind. The problem with them is that we will be tempted to trust in them instead of in God moving through his people, including ourselves.

News flash: Only you can make disciples. Your church service NEVER COULD, And even before COVID-19 stopped your meetings. 

You were in full time ministry the moment you said yes to Jesus. You don’t need to wait for a promotion or recognition; you’ll grow in maturity still, but you don’t have to be everything to everyone. You can be something to someone. 

What do I mean by “convert” vs “disciple?” A convert ascents to a creed, makes a decision. You can become a convert at one point in time. A disciple enters into a lifelong process of becoming like the one they follow. 

I became a convert through a Christian meeting, but I became a disciple when imperfect people who were following Jesus opened their lives to me. 

Caroline opened her life to me. Ben and Robin opened their lives to me. Doug opened his life to me.

I don’t know how many meals I have eaten, how much I’ve laughed, how many times I’ve cried, how many times I’ve been corrected and how many times I’ve repented, how many times I’ve been given instruction and courage and empowerment at Ben and Robin’s table or Doug and Rita’s table. 

Is all that because these people are superhero’s? No, it’s because they made a space for me, cared to know me, dared to speak the truth in love to me. 

Anyone can do it. Look, Jesus is perfect but even he nearly managed to show us how to do it imperfectly: 

He went to where people were, and invited them to share life together. They became like family (a super dysfunctional family, but still a family, and it should be very encouraging to us that Jesus was about helping the dysfunctional learn the love of his Father). Jesus shared his joy, his pain, his strength, his sorrows and his exhaustion with them. He ate with them, joked with them, corrected and rebuked them, ministered with them, empowered them, rescued them, got exasperated with them, served them, and loved them even when they betrayed him. He even invited a few into his most intimate and private space with God on the mount of transfiguration (also known as tagging along on Jesus’s quiet time–no surprise he went up to the mountain so much), and that’s just off the top of my head. But you see how gritty and glorious and imperfect and awkward it is? That’s disciple making.  

Think about that quality of life versus Jesus’s relationship with the crowds. He wanted the crowds to hear the message of the kingdom, and he had compassion on them. He loved the people, but he didn’t cater to the crowds, in fact often went to great lengths to avoid drawing a crowd. It’s impossible to overestimate the value of hearing and believing the good news about the reign of God. And yet Jesus didn’t seem concerned that everyone in his reach immediately become a convert, his plan to save the world focused on making a few disciples. It still does. 

Jesus opened his life to people. 

That’s why the table is at the center of all our worship. It’s where Jesus shared his life with us and where we share our lives with one another. And even though your table is largely unavailable right now to the people who live outside your home, that’s OK. Sometimes you isolate the muscle to strengthen it. It’s almost like all of our religion just got suddenly stripped away from us and we are naked. A lot of people prophesied about 20-20 vision this year. Can you imagine anything more clarifying? Disciple-making starts with God and you. God in you. For your wife, your husband, your kids, your housemates, a neighbor. That’s all. 

To be clear, having systems and structures and God’s government and great meetings are not dangerous, in fact they can be glorious. The danger is that we will believe that those things will accomplish the work of disciple making, but they won’t. Only you will, by God’s grace.

And of course no one of us is sufficient to do that all by ourselves, so it will take the family to complete the work. In our local context we have labored to give up individualism. But to then let the pendulum swing too far by abdicating our personal responsibility to bring our gifts to bear in the work of disciple making is a grave error. 

And I’m afraid it’s one that we may have made in our context. However I have contributed to that I repent.

See, we believe in qualified leaders, and I am so glad we have recognized leaders among us, but we just can’t continue to make the mistake of thinking that the work of the ministry is the work of leaders, or the work of the meeting.

Many of us have simply allowed ourselves to be passive. But Christ is not passive.

We are children of God and our call is to grow up in all things into the full stature of Christ Jesus. 

When I was single I mostly did what I wanted and I spent my money on the things that I wanted to spend it on. And I was pretty frugal (read: cheap). I shared a room and I bought only the cheapest things and prided myself on my simplicity and not buying frivolous things. Once in a while I would buy something really great for myself, but I was mostly pretty utilitarian. 

But then I had a problem. I fell in love. And now when Laurie sees a pair of earrings she likes I just take them up to the counter and I buy them.

When you fall in love what your beloved wants starts to get more important than what you want. 

I in my flesh might want to be passive, and experience spiritual power from other people who minister. And in the church culture I grew up in we’ve built ministries and budgets and careers on that. 

But we have a problem. Jesus didn’t tell us to build ministries and budgets and careers. He commissioned us to make disciples. 

So let me ask you, do you want to have your prayers answered, or do you want to be an answer to one of Jesus’s prayers? Do you want what you want or have you fallen too hard for Jesus? 

“Pray the Lord of the harvest to send workers into the fields.”

What we are experiencing is a diaspora. A scattering. Like God scattered the members of the Jesus movement in Jerusalem out into the ripe fields of Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth after the stoning of Stephen in Acts chapter 7, God will redeem tragedy to accomplish his purposes. We the church of the West are now cut off from the Jerusalem of our comfort, not by persecution but by what love and honor of our authorities requires in the face of a global pandemic. We in Kindred (and many churches) might have had a different, slower, less disorienting plan for the multiplication of our households of faith, but is it any surprise that God has a redemptive plan in this adversity through which the enemy means harm, but God means it for good to save many lives? I believe this for the global church and our local church: we had better get ready to form new wineskins around what God’s doing instead of clinging to our structures and missing what God’s doing. 

As we find new paths will we be like Phillip in Samaria then Ethiopia? In his day the church spontaneously expanded in an incredible way. 

Let’s talk about the spontaneous expansion of the church. 

In the chapters following Acts 7 the work wasn’t primarily done by leaders. It was done by the natural inclinations of people who likely didn’t feel any more like heroes than you and I do, but were so in love with Jesus that even as they fled persecution for the gospel, they shared the gospel and opened their lives to the people they met along the way! And it was a huge glorious messy bonanza that turned the world upside down. The leaders didn’t hold back the fire. They couldn’t if they tried! They chased the wildfire of evangelism and gave their lives to teach and strengthen and form the disciples into families who would send forth more fire!   

Friends, the coronavirus has changed our world in a matter of weeks. The worst thing we could do is ride this out and return to our old “normal”. This could be our greatest hour. Like the eunuch that Phillip ministered to in Ethiopia, people are opening up to God right now. They might thumbing through Isaiah wondering if this all makes sense to anyone, figuratively or literally. One of our neighbors piped up the other day about praying and believing in God for the first time in YEARS of casual conversation. There’s nothing like a global pandemic to get us in touch with our lack of control and your need for God. The fields are white and ready for harvest. 

Like David in Psalm 42 I’m looking forward to gathering with the throng to worship again sometime soon. My dream is that when we get back together it will be a wildfire throng of messy imperfect activated disciples who would rather be wrong in faith than right in fear. 

My friend Leah had a word years ago about awakening the sleeping giant. I believe this is that moment. The moment for the passive churchgoing majority to wake up and be activated to her true purpose and destiny by this forced fast. If the church in our place and time, which is probably 90 percent passive, wakes up from its slumber and starts imperfectly making disciples in a newly humbled and hungry culture, how could it not usher in a next Great Awakening? 

Like the beloved in Song of Songs, we are all cozy and in bed already but his hand is on the latch. Will our hearts thrill and awaken to pursue him? 

This is it friends. You may tell your grandchildren what you did with this hour. We can’t pretend a system, tradition, or meeting will accomplish what only we, through the grace of the living and active God can do. 

Can you hear the great cloud of witnesses shouting “Come on?” 

Consider the following quote from THE SPONTANEOUS EXPANSION OF THE CHURCH And the Causes Which Hinder It, by Roland Allen and written in 1927.

“The spontaneous expansion of the Church reduced to its elements is a very simple thing. It asks for no elaborate organization, no large finances, no great numbers of paid missionaries. In its beginning it may be the work of one man, and that a man neither learned in the things of this world, nor rich in the wealth of this world. The organization of a little Church on the Apostolic model is also extremely simple, and the most illiterate converts can use it, and the poorest are sufficiently wealthy to maintain it. Only as it grows and spreads through large provinces and countries do any complex questions arise, and they arise only as a Church composed of many little Churches is able to produce leaders prepared to handle them by experience learned in the smaller things. There is no need at the beginning to talk of preparing leaders to face great national issues. By the time the issues have become great and complex the leaders of the little Churches of to-day will have learned their lesson, as they cannot possibly be taught it beforehand.

No one, then, who feels within himself the call of Christ to embark on such a path as this need say, I am too ignorant, I am too inexperienced, I have too little influence, or I have not sufficient resources. The first apostles of Christ were in the eyes of the world “unlearned and ignorant” men: it was not until the Church had endured a persecution and had grown largely in numbers that Christ called a learned man to be His Apostle. The missionaries who spread the Gospel and established the Church throughout the lands round the Mediterranean are not known to us as men of great learning or ability. Most of them are not known by name at all. Only when the Church had been established and had spread widely did Christ call the great doctors whose names are familiar to us by their writings, or by their great powers of organization and government.

What is necessary is faith. What is needed is the kind of faith which uniting a man to Christ, sets him on fire. Such a man can believe that others finding Christ will be set on fire also. Such a man can see that there is no need of money to fill a continent with the knowledge of Christ.”

— 

Reflection/Discussion:

As a worker sent in answer to Jesus’s prayer, who can you currently name that makes up your field?

What passivity, abdication of responsibility, or perceived limitations do you need to repent of and leave behind in order to adopt a lifestyle of disciple-making ?

Who are the necessary imperfect examples whom you currently look to for instruction and care in your walk as a disciple and a disciple-maker? 

The post How COVID-19 is Awakening the Sleeping Giant and Restoring the Church appeared first on Tim and Laurie Thornton.

Last week I invited our church to join other believers across the country in a rhythm of praying and fasting leading up toward the election on November 8.

It’s of extreme importance that we engage in this process as the Church, to establish God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, to bring justice, peace, and righteousness to our country through Jesus, “for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses” (2 Cor 10:4)!

That’s important. Our battle here is not against flesh and blood and neither are the weapons of our warfare.

I believe we are entering into the greatest season the Church has ever known–an awakening into a destiny for the family of God that has been in the heart of God since before the foundation of the earth. It is an exciting time to be alive–don’t let the enemy (or the news) steal your joy!

Here are four encouragements about how to pray that will also increase your discernment and confidence when Election Day rolls around.

First, stand in faith.

Remember, God has a plan and it’s one of life, love, peace, joy, unity. It is not one of destruction, violence and division. He has reconciled the world to himself through the death and resurrection of Jesus, and we get the amazing adventure of getting to partner with him to see that reconciliation actualized and lived into on the earth. He has put you on this earth to rule and to reign as a people of God, to live holy lives and to live out the destiny he has called you to in the power of the Holy Spirit–to expand the family of God through sharing the Gospel and to disciple people into a life of faith and obedience, resulting in transformed neighborhoods, businesses, cities, states, and nations. Don’t believe the narrative of darkness–believe the narrative of life.

This is where our faith is, and this is the faith that will be your shield as you combat the many lies, accusations, twisting of words, and manipulations that are being flung all around us as we near the election. All things must agree with the truth of God to get past that shield.

Second, pray that God’s choice would get into office.

God is clear through the bible that he chooses leaders to accomplish his purposes at the proper time (and it’s not always the ones we’d expect!). He’s also clear that people are free to choose differently than his preference and that even then, his purposes will be accomplished, although perhaps down a much more difficult path. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to stick with his choice from the get-go.

So, let’s renounce all fear and submit to God’s way, whether or not we personally like or understand it. I might not trust any candidate but I trust God!! Pray like Jesus did, that God’s will be done and that your will conforms to his. Pray that his choice would be elected by the people. I believe that as you pray in this way and you submit your will to his, you will have a lot more confidence in the voting booth.

Third, vote for the candidate that will openly make the most room for the Church to be the Church and for Jesus to be Jesus.

Any work that doesn’t put Jesus front and center is a dead work. No matter how helpful they might seem or how much justice or reform they might try to bring, these works supplant the necessity of life and provision in Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit with something the world can offer apart from God. You know what that amounts to, right? Idolatry. We don’t want that. God doesn’t bless idols, he destroys them.

Not only that, justice and peace and reconciliation apart from the justice and peace and reconciliation of Jesus is a fake. It’s false. It’s a deception and it will only cause further destruction. The ONLY way to true peace, true joy, true liberty, true reconciliation, true justice, true equality, (I could go on and on) is through Jesus himself. And who brings Jesus? WE DO. The Church. I’m not talking about our bricks and mortar–I’m talking about the people inside it. I’m talking about an awakened, kingdom-oriented people who carry around the risen life of Christ in their bodies, who are moving forward in unity into all areas of cultural, societal, and national influence bringing innovation and heaven-birthed ideas with them.

So as you pray, ask the Father which candidate (along with his/her vp, platform and, most importantly, judicial nominees) will make room for the Church to be the Church openly and who will allow Jesus to breathe life into our nation. Like I said, I believe that the Church is awakening and coming into her greatest season yet. I’m voting for her to get to do that with freedom.

Lastly, enjoy the freedom we have in America to each vote according to our faith.

If you and your friends are voting differently than each other, well, that is the joy of living in our amazing country. Enjoy it! Enjoy the diversity of thought and the healthy exchange of ideas. Do not announce that people who vote for a different candidate than you will not be welcome in your house. Do not shame anyone, but trust the Lord.

Will you join us in praying and fasting for our country?

The post An Invitation Before the Election appeared first on Tim and Laurie Thornton.

photo: Stellar Propeller Studio

In our Sunday gathering where we are working through the book of Acts. We are taking our time with the devotions and the ground-breaking generosity in Acts 2 so we can better understand giving from the bible and how to engage it as worship.

I am trying to discover the format to share these teachings with you. This one has the full audio recording but is briefer in writing, somewhere between the transcript format of Representative Rulership and the super-distilled short post format of  7 Results of Giving in the Bible. I would really love to hear which you find most useful if you have a moment to tell me via email, twitter, or Facebook. 

Today we are going to look at the pattern we see in the bible with the tithe, which means the tenth or 10%, and how that might inform us as we set ourselves about a disciplined regular generosity.

But first we have to have clarity about a bigger concept that will apply to a lot more than finances, and this is it:

Discipline is not Striving

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Eph 2:8

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. – Phil 3:7-11

Both of these scriptures make it very clear that when we talk about behaviors, disciplines, and walking in the way of the kingdom, we are never talking about doing something to gain righteousness by our own works. We are talking about how we live out the gift of God which is righteousness that is through faith, from God.

Striving in the flesh doesn’t have a view of the good news; it makes the action a way to achieve righteousness. Discipline is a worshipful response to all that Jesus has done for us.

Now let’s talk about how to engage a discipline of generosity that will be life-giving to us.

Discipline is Spiritual

We need to reclaim Christian action.

In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. – James 2:17 NIV

“For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” – 1 Cor 15:9-10 

Godly discipline labors according to grace. There is a holy striving according to the Spirit.

There is a fellowship with God that we enjoy when we choose to engage discipline by the power of God.

Discipline responds to and lives out the gospel and the way of Jesus, because it is Jesus in us, outworking the fruits of the Spirit. One of them is self-control.

We have to get over the idea that engaging a discipline–making a choice to do something that we may not always want to do–is religiosity or dead works.

We have to realize that God’s actually going to work self-control and self-discipline in us when He’s present with us.

For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. – 2 Timothy 1:7

Seeking the Kingdom and Doing the Will

“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” What is the Kingdom of God? The Lord’s prayer may shed light on this. “Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The Kingdom of God comes when we do God’s will.

The Lord’s prayer draws a vital connection between faith and action. “Your kingdom come” is our faith, “your will be done” is our action.

Jesus confirmed that those who do the will of God are his family:

“Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! “For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.” – Matthew 12:49-50

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. – Matthew 7:24 NIV

Discipline yields a harvest

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. – Hebrews 12:11

His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence…Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. – 2 Peter 1

Discipline does not give us righteousness, but brings forth the harvest of righteousness in our lives.

We often say to our children, “Are you going to discipline yourself or do you need me to discipline you?”

We discipline so our kids now so they will ultimately have self-discipline. In walking out a mature kingdom life we all ought to have certain disciplines that we willingly take on, enjoying the fruit of them.

The Tithe is Only the Beginning

When Christ comes he ups the ante. Do not murder becomes don’t hate.

If God is dwelling in us, not only are we going to do the letter of the law, but we will keep the spirit of the law because God is within us doing it.

Do not commit adultery becomes do not look at a woman lustfully.

Do we think that the kingdom come will have less generosity than the old covenant?

While both the New and Old Testaments have many of offerings and commands to give generously, under the New Covenant our practice of generosity is much more demanding.

“The tithe simply is not a sufficiently radical concept to embody the carefree unconcern for possessions that marks life in the Kingdom of God. …Perhaps the tithe can be a beginning way to acknowledge God as the owner of all things, but it is only a beginning and not an ending.”

Richard Foster, Freedom of Simplicity

Competing for Hope

There are various sobering words in the new testament about how the love of money money fights for the allegiance of our heart.

“The love of money is the root of all sorts of evil.” – 1 Timothy 6:10

“but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.”  – Mark 4:19 NIV

…for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. Matthew 6:21-24

The eye is what we look toward; What’s our vision? What holds our hope? Whatever it is, it will fill our whole body. If we hope in wealth it will deceive us. If our vision is to look to God and serve him, and not a lesser master, then our whole bodies will be full of light.

‘Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. ‘Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the LORD your God. – Leviticus 19:19

Do we spend all the way to the end of our provision? Or do we leave some around the edges for the stranger? What if we budgeted for groceries to always have a little extra food for whomever who drops by?

Why does God command this? The phrase that follows is “I am the Lord your God.”

If your hope is in your harvest then it will become your god. By giving we remind ourselves who our God is.

Generosity can be a way that we express who our God is when our hearts are there; but when our hearts aren’t there the discipline of generosity can restore us to the good news that God is the one who gives seed to the sower and bread for food.

So disciplined giving will keep our heart and vision in check.

We are not under the law but under grace (Romans 6:14), but as it says in Romans “whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction” so let’s look at the larger pattern of the tithe as found in the Old Testament (both before and in the Law of Moses) and draw some connections to the New Testament and our lives as we consider how to engage a New Covenant discipline of generosity.

Abram

Abram wins a battle and has all kinds of plunder. Melchizedek blessed Abraham then he reminded him who his source is:

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,

Creator of heaven and earth.

And praise be to God Most High,

who delivered your enemies into your hand.”

Abe did business with the King, and refused to keep the rest of the plunder so the king of Sodom wouldn’t be able to say that he made Abram rich. Then God came to him.

“Do not be afraid, Abram.

I am your shield,

your very great reward. ”

But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. – Genesis 14, selected

When we tithe and choose not to let money rule us, we’re creating a place where God can orchestrate provision on our behalf better than we can orchestrate it for ourselves.

Abraham, the father of faith, tithed to Melchizedek. In Hebrews 7 we see that Melchizedech is a picture of Christ and the writer explains that Christ is greater than the priesthood of Levi, and that in Abraham, the Levites tithed to Melchizedech. The writer of Hebrews places the whole tithing system under Christ.

Jacob

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, and I return to my father’s house in safety, then the LORD will be my God. “This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.” Gen 28:20

Jacob pledged generosity out of his worship after his encounter with God. He had expectations for God to provide for him and pledged to rule his provision a certain way based on that belief.

Law of Moses

There are different tithes with different instructions: Do the tithes total 10% or 30% ? Are First fruits the same as tithes, or are they distinct from tithes? It’s good we’re not under the law because we could likely not figure out how to do it. We can definitely say this:

Generosity is a big value for God. Rather than figuring out the whole system or getting under all the blessings and curses of the Law of Moses, let’s look for the broader patterns it can reveal to us about how God wanted his people to give.

Here are a few scriptures to help illuminate the big themes, probably in order of the weight of their occurrences in the bible: Priesthood, Poor, and Pilgrimage.

1. Give to the Priesthood

“To the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting. Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, “Now behold, I Myself have given you charge of My offerings, even all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual allotment. This also is yours, the offering of their gift, even all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel; I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual allotment. Everyone of your household who is clean may eat it. All the best of the fresh oil and all the best of the fresh wine and of the grain, the first fruits of those which they give to the LORD, I give them to you. The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the LORD, shall be yours; everyone of your household who is clean may eat it. – Numbers 18, selected

“And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.” – 2 Cor 8:5

Tithes and offerings must first be to God, then according to God’s will they are for people.

The Priesthood and their families ate the tithes, and many of the offerings.

Priesthood in New Testament

You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. – 1 Peter 2:5

The Law has been fulfilled in Christ, but the priesthood remains. It’s not an intermediary priesthood any more, because Jesus our High Priest made it so that no person stands between us and the throne of God.

Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus…let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith. – Hebrews 10, selected

To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood— and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. – Revelation 1:5-6

He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God… – Romans 15:16

Priests in the new covenant still minister to God and to the people just as the Sons of Zadok did in Deuteronomy 44 (not 14 as in the audio recording).

Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. – Romans 13:17

Honor (timē in Greek) includes the concept of value or price. There is a tangible nature to honor.

The Romans passage shows honor can be distinct from Revenue, but Jesus’s quote of Isaiah in Matthew 15 also makes it clear that honor is much more than talk.

These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. – Matthew 15:8 NIV

Paul connects honor directly to financial provision for church leaders.

The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING,” and “The laborer is worthy of his wages.” – 1 Timothy 5:17

According to the New Testament we are a kingdom of priests, but the bible also commands a special portion be set aside to honor the family leaders in the church, especially those who establish the extended family of faith in the teachings of Christ.

2. Give to the Poor

To look at the multiple commands throughout the Old and New Testaments to take care of the orphans, widows, aliens, and strangers it seems clear that God’s priorities haven’t changed.

“When you have finished paying all the tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan and to the widow, that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. Deut 26:12

Alongside provision for those who minister, God allocates a tithe provision for the needy every third year. This may be another tithe in addition to the tithe to the priesthood during that year, or a special allocation of one tithe. Either way,

Giving to the needy is such a large, recurring theme in the bible that we need to consider it when we structure of our regular disciplined giving.

3. Take the Pilgrimage

“You shall surely tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes out of the field every year. “You shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God, at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always. “If the distance is so great for you that you are not able to bring the tithe, since the place where the LORD your God chooses to set His name is too far away from you when the LORD your God blesses you, then you shall exchange it for money, and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses. “You may spend the money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household. “Also you shall not neglect the Levite who is in your town, for he has no portion or inheritance among you. – Deut 14:22-27

The bible encourages the use of the tithe for a lavish celebration once in a while, as long as we don’t forget the priesthood.

Celebration is a part of the structure of the whole lives of God’s people in the Old Testament. His people are not only allowed to celebrate, but are commanded to celebrate and even take a pilgrimage, to the end that families remember to fear God and to celebrate in his presence. We should probably take into consideration that this tithe is only mentioned once, but it’s certainly significant that lavish family celebration is a way to tithe that can align our hearts to God as our provider.

Summary:

A regular generosity in a loving response to the gospel will help guard our hearts and our hope for the Great Reward, God himself. The bible reveals us many examples of extreme generosity and many commands to give, as well as a structure through which to begin a discipline of giving with 10%.

The Old Testament scriptures on the tithe and the New Testament mandates toward generosity reveal quite simply that God wants his people to worship Him by giving regularly to those who minister, to the care of the poor, and the prioritizing of every family’s joyful alignment to God as their abundant source.

So, as we structure regular disciplined giving into our lives, it would be a good idea to remember the Priesthood, Poor, and (less emphatically) the Pilgrimage.

There’s probably a financial reward in tithing, because there seems to be a reward for about everything in the gospel. God is such a good Father that he takes the punishment for our sin but rewards us for our obedience.

The best reason to tithe, though, is in response to the love of God, who has already given us his first fruits, his only begotten son Jesus. Jesus himself is our inheritance and has chosen us to be His inheritance! He left the Father to be united to his wife and become one flesh with us in a covenant of love and generosity.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. – 2 Cor 8:9

God bless you as you structure a worshipful discipline of generosity for your household.

The post Tithing as a New Covenant Discipline- Priesthood, Poor, and Pilgrimage appeared first on Tim and Laurie Thornton.

The Christian practice of generosity is about giving from the heart (not under compulsion) for the glory of God (not for recognition) and it has amazing results for the giver, the church, and the world.

In this podcast you get to listen to an informal recording of our living room church gathering where we talk about how in the New Testament we see the Christians practicing generosity.

Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

– The Apostle Paul

There are lots of ways to honor God with our giving. Whether we give to the poor, to our local church overseers, to the relief of suffering saints, to mission teams that establish new church families worldwide, or to other special ministries, here are some of the effects we can expect to see and enjoy.

7 Beautiful Results of Giving:

1. We engage an appropriate act of worship in response to and toward God, which is joyful even in times of poverty and affliction. (2 Cor 8:5, 2 Cor 9:7)

2. We remind ourselves where our provision comes from. (2 Cor 9:10-11)

3. Our offering is remembered by God and can bring breakthrough in our lives, as well as for our families and nations (Acts 10:1-5)

4. We cultivate prosperity and position ourselves for reward. (2 Cor 9:6-8, Proverbs 11:25, Proverbs 3:9-10)

5. We knit the household of faith together as our gifts results in thanksgiving, prayer, and deepened connection both globally and locally. (2 Cor 9:12-15, 1 Tim 5:17)

6. We partner in the work of the gospel as it advances. (Phil 1:3-6, 2 Cor 11:9, Romans 15:22-25)

7. We contribute to an atmosphere of favor for those who need the truth to be able to hear it. (Acts 2:47, 1 Tim 3:15)

This teaching comes after Representative Rulership which helps giving become easier by exploring the concept of stewardship and understanding God is the giver of all good things!

The post 7 Results of Giving in the Bible appeared first on Tim and Laurie Thornton.

As some of you know, in this season Laurie and I are devoting most of our ministry efforts to a family expression of church which has clarified around us locally. And with all that’s going on, writing blog posts has fallen a few notches on the priority list. But don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten our friends far and wide. In fact, I thought you, our readers, might enjoy a peek into some of what we are teaching these days, so as an experiment, I ordered a transcript of a teaching I gave recently at one of our Sunday gatherings, and after light edit for some needed additions (and subtractions!) I am posting it here as a plainly spoken long-form post. If you can, I’d love to hear what your thoughts on both content and format–if you’d find it valuable to see more like this, or if it’s just too much and you prefer Hemingway-esque distillations, or something in between. Laurie and I are honored that you are keeping up with us and want to serve you how we can in your journey with Jesus. I hope this post will help you engage the normal things of life in a way that’s joyfully in harmony with God! – Tim

STEWARDSHIP AND SURRENDER ALLOW JOYFUL GENEROSITY

We’ve been going through the book of Acts, and so far we’ve covered the disciples’ submission to the commands and mission of Jesus, their life of prayer together, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the preaching of the Gospel, as well as their devotion to fellowship with one another. Soon we’ll get to the Lord’s supper. I’m preparing to talk about one of the most beautiful outflows of what the church had together in God: generosity.

I’ve realized that there’s some ground that has to be covered before we start talking about biblical generosity, and that’s the ground of understanding surrender and stewardship. My goal today is that we would all have a sense of surrender to God and what it means to be God’s steward, because if we go straight to generosity without understanding surrender and stewardship, I’m going to find myself in the unfortunate position of trying to negotiate on behalf of God for a slightly larger sliver of your resources, whether time, money, energy, etc.. That would not do you justice and it would be awkward for me, and God would ultimately still be like, “Hello? I own all of it.”

STEWARDSHIP IN THE FIRST CENTURY AND EDEN

So how do we arrive at that place that the early church enjoyed of generosity overflowing and welling up in their worship? They were in awe of what God was doing among them. And the devotions–the other elements of the life of the church were online, so it wasn’t in a vacuum. They understood the sacrifice of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and their destiny.

So for us to really understand the whole story in a comprehensive way like them, as usual, we have to go back to Eden. In Eden a few things happened that are very relevant to our journey as a people and to this particular conversation.

One, God said in the Trinitarian “we” voice, “Let us make man in our image.” We’re image bearers of God by our very nature. Which means there is a sense in which we “stand in for God” as a representative in the world. Often we apply the idea of image-bearing to just one thing, like creativity. Creativity is one way we bear the image of God, but first, to be an image bearer of God means what you say and do counts for God.

It’s a magnificent, stunning privilege that God would make us his image bearers. Not just one man at the top of the pile, but man and woman together in relationship and all of the children they have.

Two, God commands them to rule and subdue the Earth. And Three, He commands them to be fruitful and multiply.

Ruling and subduing the Earth means bringing not just the garden, but the whole Earth that was wild and crazy, into submission to the order of God. Which sounds a lot like, “May your kingdom come on Earth as it does in heaven,” doesn’t it? And then to be fruitful and multiply means we’re multiplying the image of God. We’re multiplying those who represent God and in whom God dwells throughout the whole Earth.

So by our very nature, from the very beginning, we are owners in a way, but it wouldn’t be really true to say the Earth is exclusively ours, because our rulership or dominion over it is as image-bearers of God.

Which means it’s a representative rulership. And that’s a pretty good way to understand stewardship. It means it’s not mine, ultimately, but I’ve been put in charge of it. And that’s how we should understand–really, I think the bible bears this out–our relationship to this whole Earth. God has given us rulership and this dominion over it to expand the way of God–which we call the kingdom of God–throughout the whole Earth, and it’s the way of love, it’s the way of justice. Everything that God values, we are to walk it out on Earth.

STEWARDSHIP STARTS SMALL

We also have to understand that if we’re going to do it on the world-wide level, then we better be able to do it in the small things. Because often it’s in the small, in the little one thing that you’re given where you demonstrate your faithfulness so that you can be given more.

It might not make sense to expect to participate significantly in the kingdom coming on Earth as it is in heaven in the city or in the world if it’s not coming on Earth as it is in heaven in your house.

We start with our time, our money, our attention, our energy, our strength, our will, our dreams our goals, our life plan, our emotions, our service, our sense of security, our study, our giftings and our talents, the way we conduct ourselves at work.

When we pray “may your kingdom come on Earth as it is in heaven,” we are pledging all of our personal resources to God for that purpose. We’re telling God “let it start with me and what’s mine.”

We’re asking him to bring His rule into each of those places I just mentioned. So our task becomes not one that’s outside of us; our task becomes receiving God’s grace to reign as his representative in what’s already within our grasp.

How can you bring the rule of God into what you have stewardship and influence over now?

Well if we can do that, then He’s going to give us more. “For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.” (Mark 4:25)

If we don’t know how to rule our soul, maybe we don’t need to be asking for the city yet.

We need to ask for the grace to rule our soul first, and have that overflow in love and justice and health and peace and generosity in the way I view myself, the way I talk in my own head about myself, and then the way I treat my wife, and the way I treat my kids, the environment of my home, the way I am with my guests, the way I am with my extended family, the way I am with my friends and at work and on and on.

Stewardship starts when we rule what we have for God’s sake. That’s where all this happens. This understanding gives us some really practical stuff to do with all of our deep-seated, heavenly passions.

STEWARDSHIP OFFERS ITS RESOURCES

Ok. Turn to Luke 20.

And then he began to tell the people of this parable, a man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent another servant but they also beat him and treated him shamefully and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent yet a third, and this one also they wounded and cast out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, “What shall I do? I will send my beloved son, perhaps they will respect him.” But when the tenants saw him- they said to themselves, this is the heir, let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours, and they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.

So the landowner, the nobleman who represents God, sent someone in to take care of his vineyard. The vineyard represents Israel. Or I should say, the vineyard represents the Earth, and the steward that God sends into place to take care of it represents Israel. Jesus is telling a tale about the way that Israel has been given stewardship over this thing on behalf of the master. Again, representative rulership.

Jesus is giving us a provoking story about the mismanagement of the vineyard, and although it’s spoken to Israel in this context, it’s not a stretch for us to take this parable and apply it to ourselves for the vineyard that we steward, because we all steward a vineyard, don’t we?

Think about your vineyard. What has God given you and entrusted to you as an image bearer of Himself that you would rule it as a representative of Him?

Paul asks this question, in 1 Corinthians, “What do you have that you have not received? Why then do you act like you didn’t receive it?”

When we act like we have anything of our own that we didn’t receive, we become bad stewards of the vineyard because we are at odds with the owner.

God sends emissaries and says, “Give me some of my harvest,” and we say, “oh no this is mine.” We cling to the vineyard. We misappropriate what He gave us. To the point where He would actually send his son, Jesus himself, to say, “Hey, I’m ready now to have what’s mine,” and we go “oh no no no, that’s not part of the deal. This stuff is mine.”

We misunderstand the whole thing. Because what’s really ours? I’m not just talking about our money or our belongings. I am talking about that. But also, I didn’t give myself breath when I woke up this morning. I didn’t create food to eat on this Earth.

Laurie and I just recently put seeds in the ground and they came up and produced way, way, WAY more seeds than we needed last year, and now there’s enough that we can take just a little portion and start them in there for this year’s garden.

The design of fruits and vegetables that produce exceedingly more then needed isn’t a human idea. I’m not that good. That’s God’s kind of thinking. He provides abundantly. We just steward what he’s given.

I didn’t come up with my next idea for a painting, I observed what God made and participated. Do you give yourself the ability to come up with your next idea for a business? No, you apply yourself and you try to maintain an environment where you can be effective, but you really don’t have anything to do with the fundamental elements that allow that. We don’t come up with the energy that we have to get up and do something with our days.

Anyone who has had a baby knows that they participated, but they didn’t make the child. The process is miraculously beyond all of us, yet in and through us.

Everything that we have is a gift. Everything that we have is a vineyard that was given to us so that we will be representative rulers. And so, the question becomes, when God sends an emissary and says, “I would like some of that harvest now,” will we say yes? Will we honor the King? Will we honor the Owner? Or will we forget and think that it’s ours?

And if the Son himself comes to our vineyard and says, “I would like the fruit of the harvest,” will we recognize Jesus? He might come to us in many ways. He might come to us as a priest. He might come to us as the poor. He might come to us as a pilgrimage. To attend to any of those things is costly.

If we do recognize Him, do we negotiate with Him? Or do we say, “What do I have that I have not received? Of course, Jesus. Everything I have is yours. Including I my very self!”

That is the kind of sacrifice that the fire of God can come onto. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters,” I quote this everytime I preach, “in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” (Romans 12)

It’s not just when we stand and sing that we worship, it’s when we make everything in our vineyard available for God’s dominion, available for God’s kingdom. So then when we go to work, when we go to parent, when we go to spend time with a stranger, when we go to do the mundane things.

While I was cleaning gravel off my driveway, which I need to do again, God came to me. In the middle of the job I thought, “I don’t have time for this, why in the world am I sweeping gravel off my driveway which is so old it is eroding and falling apart anyway?” And I felt like the Holy Spirit said, “You could just do it because you love me,” and I found myself invited into a moment of worship.

You could look at it and say “man, that driveway isn’t worth it. It needs to be torn up and a new driveway poured there,” and in one sense that’s true, but it doesn’t matter, because to take care of what’s mine is my act of worship to the Lord. It has to be manifested in all things small and large. There’s a chance to worship in every moment of life.

Once Laurie and I were playing music at a worship night in a living room and someone’s need was brought up. A girl was moving to another country and needed a significant amount of money. I thought, ‘I don’t have any money, Lord, but I will give her the offering at the end of the night.’ And then the offering came in at $1,500 which was quite a bit more than expected and would have really helped us, but it wasn’t a problem to give it away, in fact it was a thrill, because I had already made it available to God before it came in.

There’s a chance to be a representative ruler and to yield ownership of everything to the King and in every single part of your life. And it’s fun.

STEWARDSHIP YIELDS TO GOD IN THE PROCESS

Some of you might be thinking what I’ve sometimes thought when presented with the encouragement to surrender everything to God which is, ‘well, God already gave me a bunch of priorities and a bunch of stuff to do, and so don’t ask anything of me, I’m already tapped out doing those things.’

That’s almost exactly what the stewards of this vineyard did. They said, “God gave us this job to take care of this vineyard, so don’t bother me, I’m doing my job.” But they failed to recognize God showing up in the middle of it.

Some of us have something we know God gave us to do. But Paul would say, “Are you going to finish in the flesh what started in the Spirit?” (see Gal 3:3)

If God commanded you to do it, are you checking in with God about the process and His evolving design for it? Is he allowed to change His mind? Can he modify his plan as the conditions change?

If it’s something God wants done, is he allowed to decide to reallocate His resources differently at any point? Or has it crystallized in your brain: this is my thing I have to do and I’m just going to keep my head down and power through it?

Well that’s not going to work, because the Son might walk into the vineyard at any time, either through an emissary or through coming Himself. So whatever it is that we know God’s given us, we make this error of the vine growers if it’s not continually submitted to God.

When you’re on a mission, it’s ridiculous to not ever check in with mission command. If I’m in the army, one of my most important pieces of equipment is my radio.

The further I get from the place that I receive the last communication from headquarters, the more likelihood there is that I’m not in sync with the actual battle anymore.

I can start bringing all of my effort and passion to something that’s not going to yield a victory. You guys with me? Are you seeing how this might apply to life and stewardship?



Some things God gives me to do–Christian things; ministry things–and I go off and try to do and do and do and do and then I realize, oh wait, I don’t think God’s in this anymore. I think this is just me now. That’s what I was singing about in our song Falling Backwards, which is about repenting of self-made religion and returning to the First Love.

“I used to think it was all mapped out

But while I stayed the course you rethought the route

And when I lost you good tried to sort it out — alone” 

– Falling Backwards, on the album Reckless

And in fact, when we hear God the first time about an assignment, we hear through the grid of our own minds, wills, and emotions, and we have to recognize there is a chance we might have even misinterpreted what God meant.

And so it makes sense to check in constantly, and not just in theory but in reality, because that will allow us to grow in our understanding of the original assignment. I don’t think God holds back from us at first, but as we grow and show ourselves faithful to the task and submitted to Him, He is able to reveal more about both us and our assignments.

In my own life, God restored my heart to make visual art. I must be able to say, “God, you gave me an invitation to paint as an act of worship. Am I stewarding this in a way that honors You? Is this is an act that includes You? Or have I gone off and decided to use this for my own fleshy purposes? Have I made my gift, my mission, my calling accessible to You? Or am I trying to finish in the flesh what started in the Spirit?” If I am, it’s time to reorient myself.

I’ve had the habit of doing this very intentionally with all of my work, all of my ministry, all of my creative expressions once a year. Usually, I set aside three or four days in January and I just go and lay everything at the feet of God and go, “Ok, this is all the stuff I’m doing and I think it’s important, but You’re mission control, so You get to give me a new order right now if You want. If You want to take these things and entrust them to someone else, or You want to shut them down, or You want me to do them but with a different heart, or with a different purpose, or in a different way, this is Your time to make sure I’m aligned to the Spirit.”

It’s good stewardship to make sure we’re engaging in the Spirit the things that start in the Spirit, so that we don’t get out of sync with God, even though our desires are good.

Which would be a pretty good way to understand “religiosity” or dead works. That’s when we do good things for the wrong reason; we do good things from the flesh instead of from the Spirit. We try to fulfill the command of God by our own strength instead of by the Spirit of God.

But here’s some good news.

God wants to empower us to fulfill everything that he commands us to do.

We see an error all over the Bible. The first thing Abraham did when he received the promise was come up with a way to fulfill the promise in the flesh. And that became a curse. Do you want the vineyard you’re stewarding to become a curse? Of course not. The way to make sure your vineyard remains a blessing is to always submit it to the Spirit. Always make sure it’s God who works in us to will and to act according to His good purpose. That’s Philippians 2, work out your salvation–with fear and trembling. We should have a sense that this is a very serious business. We must not take God’s gift that he gave us to steward and turn it into a curse by trying to fulfill it in the arm of flesh. (see Jeremiah 17:5)

So stewardship means that we understand that everything that’s ours is God’s, and that we are His representative rulers. The practice of stewardship means that we submit the vineyard of our life–our emotions, our mind, our will, our time, our money, our attention, our energy, our strength, our dreams, our goals, our relationships, our life plan, our service, our sense of security, our study, our giftings and our talents–to God for His spirit to move through us in them.

GOOD STEWARDSHIP

We’ve talked about the vineyard which is sort of a scathing story, but before that, when Jesus is about to come into Jerusalem, there’s a magnificent story about surrender and stewardship and what it looks like. Luke 19:28 if you’d like to read along:

After he had said these things He was going on ahead, going up to Jerusalem, when He approached Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples saying “go into the village ahead of you. There, as you enter, you will find a colt on which no one has ever sat, untie it and bring it here. If someone asks you why are you untying it? You shall say, “The Lord has need of it.”” So those who were sent, went away and found it just as He had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord has need of it.” They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it.

This is a picture of what representative rulership looks like. Just as in the vineyard the Son sent emissaries to say, “I want some of the harvest,” here he sends disciples to say, “The Lord needs this colt.”

But this time, just like He said it would happen, it doesn’t appear they made any fuss at all.

This is amazing. Imagine someone comes to your driveway and starts driving away in your new car, and you ask them what they’re doing.

“The Lord has need of it.”

And then imagine saying yes!

I tend to imagine this might have been a painful surprise for the person who had the colt, but what if they had planned for generosity and had already set it aside? They would simply rejoice that it was being put to use by Jesus!

How do we move in this kind of stewardship? Only one way.

Stewardship becomes joyful if we’ve decided ahead of time that our resources already belong to the Lord. Otherwise, you have to do battle with your soul every time the God asks for something.

There’s still a process of discerning or choosing who and what to give, how to recognize God in the moment, and what activities to engage, but that’s a far more beautiful and fun process than giving begrudgingly, or refusing him. If you decide now that it’s all the Lord’s and it’s all available for him, then when the Son or one of his emissaries shows up to get some of your harvest you’ll say, “Well of course, it’s already His.”

There’s a beautiful example of this I have in my dad. He lives out that Romans 12 truth that says “in view of God’s mercy, offer yourselves.” You ask him for help, he’s there. He’s cooking for the youth group. He’s welding something for that guy. He’s bringing his truck and he’s moving this lady. He’s taking that kid fishing. He’s the guy who shows up early; he’s the guy to stay late. He asks nothing in return for this.

One time I asked him, “Dad, why do you do all this stuff? You’re always going further than anyone I know just to serve and help other people, and you never ask to be thanked for it, you never try to be recognized. Just tell me. How did you learn to do this?”

And he got a little teary and he said, “Well, God has forgiven me a lot. And I understand that this is part of the deal. When I gave my life to God, I said if anything needs to be done, I’ll do it. So if there’s any way I can make myself available to serve the people are around me, I do.”

His stewardship is a choice to surrender made in advance, then realized in the actions that he takes every day. When opportunities are presented, he’s already decided it’s a “yes.”

GETTING THE VINEYARD READY

So here’s the application. It’s one thing to say, “Lord I give you my heart. I give You all my money. Lord I just give You my time, I’m just available for You. Lord I want to serve you.”

But it’s another thing to give it when he asks.

I can say “Lord I give You my heart,” but do I give it when He asks for it? I can say, “Lord, all my money is Yours,” but do I make my money available when the need presents itself?

I can say “my time is Yours,” but how much time do I actually set aside to waste on God in worship? Or serving God through someone else’s need? Or loving a stranger?

We must begin with “Lord all these things are Yours.” We have to say it with intention. And then we must also give, do, and adjust along the way according to God’s word and and leading.

This is stewardship: First God gives a thing to us. Then we give it to God when He asks, even though it may be in any number of mundane or humbling ways.

“Why are you untying that?”

“The Lord needs it.”

“Oh yes, then please take it. It’s already the Lord’s, of course.”

Let’s take a few moments, somebody strum something. Let’s not miss the chance to say yes to God in a new way today.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, we as a church, as a family, as stewards, representative rulers of your vineyards, ask you to minister to us now and bring clarity in our hearts. Tell us what You’re calling for.

Show us who your emissaries are in our lives so we won’t miss them and so miss you.  

What are You arriving in our hearts and asking for?

Make some notes on the pages of your journal about what resources God is asking you for. If there’s something you’re holding back from Him, he’s asking you not to let this become an idol that will break your heart. “He who seeks to save his life will lose it, but he who loses it for my sake will find it.” (Luke 17:33)

It makes no sense to ask God to bless us in an area we are holding back from Him. If we are going to receive his blessings it’s under his authority.

This is your moment to give that property over to God as part of your worship. Whether it’s your pride, your finances, your thought life, a certain part of your days or nights, your time in prayer. If there’s something you’ve given God permission to come and take but you’ve not yet given it over, go ahead and give it and remember these words:

“Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:23)

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‘BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.’ Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.

-Mark 7:7-8

Not all human tradition or principle equals lifeless religiosity.

But our worship is revealed to be all about us when we manifest the inability to distinguish our preferences from God’s priorities, rather than submitting the former to the latter.

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