Breathe--With God

I am really excited to post this next article (#5) from Ron. It really ties in with a lot that God seems to be saying right now. This idea that our primary response to God is to submit or surrender to Him is resonating in the Body. I believe God is moving in a unique way and this is to be our response...surrender...and breath Him in. Then His life will flow out of us and His will is accomplished and He gets all the credit! ~Jon


Breathe – With God
By Ron Bergthold

Why do bagpipers walk when they play? (Answer: To get away from the sound.)

With the exception of bagpipes (a rather abnormal instrument), wind instruments require you to breathe in just before you play. In fact, we usually take a breath that matches the speed and length of the note we are about to play. Proper breathing is one of the basic requirements in learning to play well. It allows the player to sustain lengthy notes or complete connected phrasings. It maintains a proper tone, pitch and volume, while lack of adequate breathing will produce a shaky, thin, or choppy sound. In short, breathing provides life to the music played.

I am convinced that God is an awesome instrumentalist. The breath of God is described early in the Bible, beginning with Genesis 2 when He breathes physical life into Adam. In Ezekiel 37 we find dry bones receiving the breath of God, also coming to physical life through Ezekiel’s prophesying word. Although the bones received tendons and flesh, this passage was pointing to a different kind of breath and life that God later made available through the Acts 2 Pentecostal wind of the Holy Spirit.

We become the very instrument of God when we enter into a relationship with Jesus, with the Holy Spirit providing the very breath needed to produce music for God. This means several things to us.

The first is that we exist only as long as God provides our next physical breath. Acts 17:25 says that God “is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.”

The second is that, besides being physically worthless to Him, we are spiritually worthless to God without first offering ourselves in submission to His spiritual breath. Romans 6:13 says, “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life, and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness.”

The third is that when we do submit spiritually, music which is beautiful to God’s ears arises from our lives. Our submission must match the speed and length of the Holy Spirit’s breath and intent. We can prepare to receive this powerful force by learning and meditating on scripture so we can gain familiarity with the breath. Shallow understanding of the Word and its truth will limit our willingness to respond to the breath.

But we also must realize that our response ultimately originated with God and not of ourselves. Romans 12:3 says; “Do not think of yourself more highly that you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” When we are lovingly patient with an annoying coworker, it is the result of us submitting our tongue to God’s breath. If we encourage or otherwise help a friend who is depressed, it was not done on our own initiative, but was an act of a virtuoso who loves to play His instrument.

Let us always be His submissive instruments…!

For the TRBC Orchestra on September 24, 2008

Play or Practice?

Endurance. Perseverance.

These are two words that are not too popular in America, today. The thing is, for those of us that follow Christ, these words are fruits of true faith in Christ. When Jesus walked the earth, He taught that when persecuted it would be "By your endurance you will gain your lives." (Luke 21:19) Also, the writer or Hebrews speaks of God's disciplining us to be like Him this way. "It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all children have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons." (Hebrews 12:7-8) This endurance is somewhat passive, in that it is the ability to submit to a process that is outside of ourselves.

As for perseverance, the Random House dictionary says, "Perseverance commonly suggests activity maintained in spite of difficulties or steadfast and long-continued application." James, the brother of Jesus agrees. "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves...the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing." (James 1:22, 25) I must quickly refer to how we "do." It is only through the power found in a totally dependant reliance on Jesus as the ultimate life giver (John 15).

As you read the next installment of Ron Bergthold's series, ask the Holy Spirit to empower you to endure and persevere in His strength as He completes His work in you.

~Jon


Play or Practice?
by Ron Bergthold

What’s the range of a tuba? (Answer: About 20 yards, if you practice and have a good arm.)

“Can we run it again?” The director was asking those words to the entire orchestra, but his eyes were specifically searching the brass to see whether they really had enough lip to get through the chart again. In reality, the end had already come and gone. Being September, many had taken at least a few lazy weeks off during the summer and their endurance was not yet up to par. Not that par was really great! Playing in a church orchestra was fun and rewarding, but to build endurance meant practicing, which is really just for those still learning to play or for those who earned their living by it, right?

Paul encouraged the Galatians (vs 6:9) to “…not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Given their considerable trials, it is understandable that the Galatians were ready to give up. We all have experienced fatigue and reached our physical limits. We simply cannot play one more note above the staff or move another finger. At that point our joy of playing dissipates and we give in by giving up. We come to this wall in other areas of our life as well. We cannot continue speaking without adding a cynical, harsh or gossipy word. Or stop without taking one more look, spending one more dollar, or stepping where we know we shouldn’t.

Paul advocated the concept of spiritual practice – a disciplined obedience, sown in partnership with the Holy Spirit over time, to reap an otherwise missed benefit. One of those benefits is an endurance which takes us farther or higher than we have ever gone before. But we often seek an easier path, arguing more for the selfish and short-term: “No one’s perfect; even the pros miss notes.” “I have my other full-time job to do.” “It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to perfect me.” “I am actually free from my wrong notes – they are silenced by the blood of Christ and never even reach His ears.” We can spend more time justifying not practicing than doing what would actually help.

We have all heard friends naively wish they could simply pick up an instrument and jam, or ponder what it would have been like if they had just continued those piano lessons. They do not consider the awkwardness and difficulty of starting out, or the hours, months and years of practice that eventually yield to the joy of discovering new levels of playing.

We know better. We know that private preparation and practice impacts public performance. We know that endurance for the more difficult pieces comes only after considerable investment of time and effort. We also know the rewards that follow and the joy it brings, as well as the never-ending opportunity for further improvement.

God describes many rewards of a practiced Christian life – of consistently yielding to the Holy Spirit and submitting to the Word of God. With each act of obedience, God reveals more of Himself to us, which encourages us to take the next step, all the while building an endurance of love and character to tackle the more difficult passages of life. God explains that we are His “treasured possession” (Ex 19:5) whom He desires to “bless” (James 1:25), so that we will “overcome the evil one” (1 Jn 2:14) and realize the “fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:15). He wants us to know Him intimately, like we know and love our instrument, but even more – much more. Have you practiced lately?

For the TRBC Orchestra on September 17, 2008


For more on this topic go to: http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/ConferenceMessages/ByConference/37/

Watch Out!

Here's article number three from Ron Bergthold. Enjoy. ~Jon

Watch Out!

by Ron Bergthold

How do you get a rhythm guitarist to play softer? (Answer: Give him music to read.)

We’ve all done it, falling mentally asleep while counting five sets of 8-measure rests. Was that the 3rd or 4th set we just passed? Our eyes then search the director for a clue of when to come in. Sometimes the director has to admonish us with a “Watch me!” when our group appears too distracted or when he knows that we may miss an upcoming critical section in the piece.

I do not have to work hard to be distracted. I can effortlessly zone out or in an instant redirect my focus to the most trivial happening away from my intended purpose. Jesus knew there were enough people like me to give this warning in Luke 12:37a, “It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes.” He hit a similar theme again in Matthew 26:41, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” The key word here is “watch”.

So if we individually watch well while playing, we will play more together as a group and more often notice upcoming key changes or accidentals and thus not hit (as many) wrong notes. It is a fundamental, but critical, step to take, since the consequences of not watching are often immediate and apparent to all. Reading God’s wisdom in the Bible and taking heed, trying to apply it to our lives, will provide a better opportunity for us to avoid temptations and their oft-followed sin. Watching well in our spiritual lives will certainly help us to avoid at least some of the potholes in life.

But watching just to avoid bad is somewhat of a chore and is a trap in which most new players get caught. The focus leans too heavily on just getting the right notes or rhythm and not on the ultimate purpose and beauty of playing good music. The second reason given above by Christ, from the Luke passage, indicates a much more exciting and critical motivation for us! If we are watching, Jesus said “It will be good…” for us. Knowing Jesus as the Author of good means this will not just be an ordinary good, but a very excellent good!

Think of a luxuriously enjoyable time in which you were either playing or listening to good music. Spine-tingling moments of a furious phrase within an energetic piece. The final coming together of a particularly challenging work that had been rehearsed over and over. A couple of measures of soft and sweet beauty at the tranquil ending of an inspired composition. Chances are the notes were right because of either maturity or rehearsal, but you didn’t listen and think “Wow, they got the notes right!” You instead pronounce the ultimate word of praise, “That was so good.”

And so, God is watching us, but not for wrong notes as many fear. Instead He seeks those moments in our lives when, through watchfulness, we catch such a good glimpse of Him we are overtaken by the beauty of His own music and can only utter words of praise to Him, “God, you are so good!”

For the TRBC Orchestra on September 10, 2008

Love One Another

Tonight, I am sharing with the choir at TRBC a message from John 13:34-35 & John 15. I am openly admitting to them that much of it came from John Piper's message, "A New Commandment of Christ: Love One Another As I Have Loved You." (You can never accuse Piper of using two few words, huh?) So, I figure instead of expounding much on the subject here, I will simply let his sermon speak to you as it did to me.

Blown Away By Christ,
~Jon


The New Commandment of Christ: Love One Another As I Have Loved You
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By John Piper September 14, 2008

John 13:31-35
When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

A Bridge-Sermon
This sermon is a bridge.
It’s a bridge from Summer to Fall.
It’s a bridge from a year of topical messages on marriage and regeneration and spectacular sins to a new extended exposition of the Gospel of John.
It’s a bridge from the fruit of relational servanthood to the root of the Servant himself who modeled servanthood for us and made it possible by his blood.
It’s a bridge from a Summer break from small groups to a new and stronger involvement in small groups at Bethlehem.
Let me make a comment about this bridge before we turn to our text. Since we finished Romans at the end of 2006, we have focused mainly on crucial topics that the Elders considered important for us as a church. Now it’s time to turn again to a season of sustained exposition. I wrote the Taste & See article this past week about why that way of preaching is important and why we are turning our attention to the Gospel of John. I’ll have more to say about that next week when we start at the beginning of the book.

Relational Culture and John’s Gospel
Today we jump into the middle of John at chapter 13 because this text is a bridge from what we have been talking about in the relational culture of Philippians 2:4—have the mind in you that is humble and counts others more significant than yourselves and looks not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others—a bridge from that fruit of love to the root of Love himself, Jesus Christ, who modeled it and made it possible by laying his life down for his sheep. If I understand John’s Gospel correctly, we will never be far in this new series from the issue of how we love each other.
John 13:34 is a bridge from focusing on the relational culture of loving each other into the Gospel of John. It gives us a golden opportunity as we begin the Fall together, to wave the banner of small-group life at Bethlehem. If Bethlehem is your home church, you need to know that we who are responsible for your souls believe that God has led us to shepherd you largely through your involvement in small groups.

Small Groups: Part of Our Organic Life
Small groups are not autonomous creations at Bethlehem. They are part of an organic life that moves from Elders and pastoral staff to trained and accountable small-group leaders to the people. Some shepherding happens in large groups like this, and in classes that are offered, and in ministry efforts that people join, and in spontaneous friendships. But the plan of your leaders is that you be cared for and accountable mainly through the organic flow of shepherding in small groups.
That’s why we do all we can to help you get connected in such a group, and it’s why we devote this Sunday every Fall to that effort. This is how a large church becomes small. This is how an impersonal church becomes personal. This is how a point of proclamation becomes a web of relationships.

Not a New Idea
It has always been this way. Small groups are not a new idea. When 3,000 people were added to the church in Acts 2, they attended the temple and broke bread in their homes. Soon that number in the church was 10,000-plus (5,000 men, plus women and children, in Acts 4:4). The key from the beginning was a combination of large assemblies and small fellowships. There are crucial aspects of Christian obedience that correspond to each of those. I pray that you will be responsive to our leadership and help us care for you in this way.

“A New Commandment I Give You”
The verse that I want to focus on is John 13:34: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” There are glorious things in verses 31-35 that I am passing by. We will be back, Lord willing. Today there is only time for one verse and one question: What’s new about the commandment to love each other?
I pray that Jesus himself will speak in this message concerning his commandment to Bethlehem that we love each other. Immerse your mind now in this text with me, and let the mind of Jesus saturate your mind. That is how we are changed. The word of God reveals the Son of God and the glory of God by the Spirit of God, and we are changed (2 Corinthians 3:18). This a miracle. If I did not believe in it, I would not be a preacher of this word. It has power far beyond mine.

Christians Are Under Authority
John 13:34: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” If you are a follower of Jesus, a Christian, a child of God through faith in Christ, you are a person under authority. You are not your own. You do not call the shots any more. Jesus is more to you than Master of your life, but he is not less. He comes to you with more than commandments, but not less. You are a person whose life is defined by the will of another, namely, Jesus. What he wills you want.
And what he wills and commands in this verse is that we love each other—that his followers love each other. “A new commandment I give you”—not a new suggestion, or a new idea, or a new possibility, or a new life-option, but a new commandment.

What’s New About Jesus’ New Commandment?
The question that has guided all my focus in this message is What’s new about the commandment to love each other? “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another.” I see two answers implied in this verse. The key to the answers is found in the words in the second half of the verse: “. . . just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” The newness of the command to love each other is found in the words “as I have loved you.”
I see two ways that the commandment to love each other is new in those words. First, the command is new because it is a command to live out the love of Jesus. Second, the command is new because it is a command to live on the love of Jesus. The words “as I have loved you” contain a pattern for our love for each other, and they contain a power for our love for each other.
Loving each other is not a new command per se. It was already there in the Old Testament (Leviticus 19:18, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”). What’s new is that Jesus is now the pattern we live by and the power we live on. Let’s look at these two kinds of newness.

1) Jesus, Our Pattern: Living Out His Love
The basis of the first kind of newness (Jesus as our pattern) is found earlier in John 13. Look at what Jesus does at the very beginning of this chapter to provide the example of what he means when he says, “Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” John 13:1 and following:
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. . . . [Jesus’ love for us is about to be demonstrated]. 4b He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. [This is Philippians 2:3, counting others more significant than himself as he takes the role of a slave] . . . 12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.
So here we have Jesus giving us an acted out pattern of love. So when we get to verse 34 and he says, “Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another,” we don’t have to go guessing what he means by “as.” As I have loved you in the pattern I just gave you a few moments ago. Verse 15 says, “I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” And verse 34 says, “Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” So the pattern of love to be followed is clear.

a) Laying Aside Status and Becoming a Servant
This is how we are to love each other at Bethlehem. It involves at least two things. One is that we lay aside status and rank and prestige and privilege and take the form of a servant—that’s what Philippians 2:7 said, and that’s what Jesus does here. Verse 14: “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” By virtue of my status and rank and privilege as our Lord and Teacher, I am not obliged to wash your feet. But I “count you as more significant than myself” and serve you.

b) Engaging in Practical Deeds of Helpfulness
So the first part of Jesus’ pattern is that it lays aside rank and privilege to serve others. The second part of the pattern is that this love involves practical deeds of helpfulness. In those days, almost everyone walked. The roads and paths were dirt. There were probably no socks and no sidewalks. Everyone’s feet were more or less caked with dirt. The dirty work had to be done. Jesus did it for those who should have been doing it for him. He laid down a sense of entitlement. And served.
The new commandment is that we look at this pattern, that we watch our Lord and Teacher and Savior do this, and follow him in it. We live out the love that we see in Jesus.

2) Jesus, Our Power: Living On His Love
That leaves one more angle on the newness of this command to love each other. I called it, not living out, but living on the love of Jesus. When Jesus says that the new commandment to love each other is a commandment to love as I have loved you, he draws attention not only to the pattern of love we follow, but the power to love that we need.
Here’s where I get this idea. If you search the Gospel of John for the closest verbal parallel to the words of verse 34 (“Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another”), the closest parallel is John 15:12: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” But here, instead of acting out a pattern to follow, Jesus describes a connection with himself that gives the power to love.
So the newness of the command to love like Jesus is not only the pattern of his behavior but his connection to vital power—our connection to that power by being connected to him. Look three verses earlier at John 15:9-10: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”

The Key to Jesus’ Love
Jesus said the key to his love was his relationship with God the Father: “I abide in his love” (verse 10). Jesus lives in constant and perfect union with the Father. The effect is that the Father’s love moves into Jesus and lives there as a divine power to love. Then Jesus says at the end of verse 9, “Abide in my love.” So he abides in his Father's love, and we are to abide in his love.
That’s how we are able to love each other “as he loves us.” He loves us by abiding in the love of the Father. We love each other by abiding in the love of the Son—which is the love of the Father.

Abiding in Jesus
We can see the picture Jesus has in his mind in verse 5: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” There’s where I get the power idea. “Apart from me,” Jesus says, “you have no power to do anything.” You cannot love each other as I command you to love, if you do not abide in me as I abide in my Father.
So the newness of Jesus’ commandment is not only that Jesus has become our pattern for love by taking the role of a servant, but also that Jesus has become our power for love by himself abiding in the Father so that as we abide in him we are given the very love of the Father with which to love each other.

Trusting and Treasuring Jesus
And if you wonder what hour-by-hour abiding in Jesus means, it means hour-by-hour trusting him to meet all our needs and be our supreme treasure. And when we are confident that he will meet all our needs and be our treasure, we are freed and empowered to humble ourselves and meet the needs of others.
Which leaves one last question: How can we trust him to meet all our needs and be our treasure if we are sinners and deserve only wrath from God and not love?

Jesus, Our Propitiation: Laying Down His Life for Us
The answer is given in this very context. Right after saying in John 15:12, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you,” he says in verse 13, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus could not leave us with only a pattern and only a power through union with him by faith. He had to go deeper and solve the problem of John 3:36: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
Our problem is not mainly that we don’t love like we should. Our problem is mainly that because of our sin, God’s wrath remains on us. How is it removed? Why does God cease to be angry with us and instead pour love into our lives through Jesus and empower us to love? The answer is John 12:13: Jesus laid down his life for his friends. Jesus died in our place. Jesus endured the wrath of God that we deserved so that God’s justice would be satisfied and his love could flow unhindered through Christ to us and through us to each other.
The commandment to love each other is new because Jesus is the pattern and the power of that love. And he can be those for us, even though we are sinners, because he removed the wrath of God by laying down his life for us.

Together into Small Groups and John’s Gospel
I pray that we will move together into the Gospel of John and small groups this Fall. There are glories of Christ to be seen here that we have never seen before. And there is love to be lived here in small groups that some have never tasted before. The union of life in small groups and life in the Gospel of John will be a good marriage. I hope you come.

© Desiring God
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Desiring God. Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

When God Works

You know I love to pass on quotes that move me. This one moves me because it speaks of God's activity in His church, not His church trying to do God's work. There is a difference. When God works, we are energized. When we work, we are exhausted. When God works, He alone can take the credit and get the glory. When we work, we can feed our pride by doing "good" things "for God."

Lord, I long to see You do Your work in Your church.

~Jon


“The world does not need to see good people doing good things for their God. They need to see God doing ‘above and beyond all that we ask or think’ among His people. When the church allows God to fill them with His presence, the world will see and glorify Him because they have experienced Him in the life of His people. They will know His love because the church sincerely loves all people. They will know His power because the church steps out in faith and attempts what only God can accomplish. The world will stand in awe of God when His people let Him be God in them and through them. When God begins to heal marriages, return wayward children, heal alcoholics and drug addicts, provide for physical needs in times of crisis, and give wisdom to business people, the world comes to know the difference God makes in our world.” (Henry and Melvin Blackaby, A God-Centered Church, pg 200)

The "Popular" Church

I think it is healthy for us to question not only our motives, but our methods in the church. What are we saying through our words and actions when we gather together to worship? Are we representing God's heart for His glory and His desire for people to be saved and satisfied by Himself? Or are we trying to dress up the gospel so people will listen? What is our part in being a witness of Christ and His work on earth? Are we portraying who Jesus really is, or are we just trying to fit in? Are we driven by a concern for our reputation within our denomination or among other local churches? Are we willing to love sinners like He did, even as we revel in His holiness and power? Who are we gathering for when we worship, people or God? Is the gospel enough to save, or should we attempt to prop it up with something cool? Don't get me wrong, I believe that there should be creativity in ministry and I don't want to sound like we are not called to reach out to those who are not yet born again. I am simply saying that we should question our assumptions to make sure they are God's assumptions, too. I came across this from Joe Stowell and John MacArthur commenting on the popularization of the church. It hits at the core of our purpose as Christ's church.

"We must resist the temptation to popularize the gospel and thereby trivialize the depth and power of the gospel. Gospel presentations that speak merely of finding peace in Jesus, that claim that the gospel is about thinking positively, or that we're really here to help people recover and feel good about themselves leave the essence and issue of the gospel in jeopardy. Attempts to entertain people into the kingdom and to put only the foot forward that is going to be accepted and applauded by the culture without also putting the essence of the gospel forward creates an environment in which we discount the very heart of Christianity.

John MacArthur has a wonderful way of keeping us in the tension of truth. He writes:

'The overriding goal is becoming church attendance and worldly acceptability rather than a transformed life. Preaching the Word and boldly confronting sin are seen as archaic ineffectual means of winning the world. After all, those things actually drive most people away. Why not entice people into the fold by offering what they want, creating a friendly, comfortable environment, and catering to the very desires that constitute their strongest urges? As if we might get them to accept Jesus by somehow making Him more likable or making His message less offensive...That kind of thinking badly skews the mission of the church...It is the Word of God, not an earthly enticement, that plants the seed for a new birth (1 Peter 1:23). We gain nothing but God's displeasure if we seek to remove the offense of the Cross (see further Galatians 5:11).'" [John MacArthur, Ashamed of The Gospel, pg 18 as quoted by Joseph M. Stowell in Shepherding The Church, pg 60]

Lord, give us the right questions to ask so we can discern how to be Your people on the earth in these days. ~Jon

Follow The Leader

Here's part 2 in the series on unity. I have been challenged this weekend with how God uses even painful persecution to accomplish His purpose of making us more like Jesus (Hebrews 12). This article is a beautiful picture of God-centered submission within His bride, the church. I am grateful that Ron has allowed me to share it with you. ~Jon

Follow the Leader
by Ron Bergthold

If a conductor and a watermelon were both dropped from a tall building at the same time, which would reach the ground first? (Answer: Who cares?)

Does a good orchestra really need the conductor waving his arms? Everyone knows the rhythm section sets the pace and energy. Accomplished musicians can read a tech sheet, understand changes to the score, and listen well enough to those around them to competently create an excellent product on their own. Yes, at least when the players are reasonably decent, the guy up front is essentially inconsequential, right?

Even worse than the inconsequential is the leader who has irritating habits or damaging flaws. We cringe at what might happen next and know that we deserve better. Life would only improve if someone else (maybe us!) were in charge and the conductor, the supervisor at work, the parent, the government or the pastor simply left, providing us the needed freedom to creatively express our own heart. It is here we have both great opportunity and danger.

God purposefully delegates some of His roles to imperfect human leaders – and then very clearly tell us to “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men…” (1 Pet 2:13a). God did not command this just to frustrate us, but rather for the sake of His Name and for our good. He uses flaws of our authorities to drive home lessons that we would otherwise miss (hence the opportunity).

Peter goes on to tell the slave with a harsh master to keep on submitting, since “..if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable to God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps.” (1 Pet 2:20b-21). Do we have that stubborn kind of submissiveness? Our resilient tendency is to justify our choice to go our own way and rebel against, quit, ignore, leave, or complain about our authorities and, in so doing, choose a much more dangerous path.

Musically, a director assists a group to honor and bring life to the composer’s written instructions and purpose. If one player or section refuses to soften as encouraged by the director, another voice or counter-melody will often be lost. If a percussionist decides that no accelerando is needed, even through directed, chaos will ensue. Our unwillingness to submit creates negative consequences for those around us. Think drunk-driving homicides, divorce, and strife within a church. And even greater than these visible physical consequences, we distance ourselves from or quench the Holy Spirit, and we dangerously miss what God graciously wants for us at that time.

Spiritually, God the Father is the Arranger of all creation and Jesus is the director who is in the process of reconciling us to the Composer and His desired state in us here on earth. Our full submissiveness to Christ and His delegated authorities will allow the composer’s intentions to unfold and, at the same time, provide us an opportunity of great joy. How submissive are you to the authorities in your life today?

For the TRBC Orchestra on September 3, 2008

Perfect Unison

Tonight I am posting the first of a series of articles written by a friend on the subject of unity. If you look back over past posts, you will see that this is something that the Lord has had me thinking a lot about lately. I suppose it is just where we are...at least in the body of believers that I am a part of. Anyway, I trust you will be encouraged by these articles by Ron Bergthold and I apologize that it has been so long since my last post. :)

~Jon


Perfect Unison
by Ron Bergthold

How do you get two piccolo players to play in perfect unison? (Answer: Shoot one.)

Unity can be difficult to achieve. Because unity often requires us to “give in” to another’s position, we will only submit when we truly honor the other person and expect that the end result will be worth our effort. Consider the difficulty of tuning two instruments – let alone an entire orchestra. Playing in and listening to middle school bands has taught me to understand that unity of pitch does not come naturally, but is only learned over time, and then only with help. How does this key learning take place?

Most musical groups tune everyone to one person. Whether this person has the right pitch is usually not questioned; the goal is unity. If the entire group plays sharp, at least they are together. Professional orchestras tune to the oboe, since it plays a consistent pitch. This works well unless you have an inconsistent or missing oboist. Then the task often defaults to the pianist or anyone who plays the best pitch. This “follow the best leader” process seems to work well enough for most organizations.

But today, technology has brought us the digital tuner! Science has eliminated one of the key purposes of the oboist and avoided the pain of coming to agreement with an on-site, but off-pitch, piano. However, the problem is still not totally solved. Musicians must still learn to match the perfect pitch presented. I personally like to believe that my own instrument was factory tuned and I can avoid this whole effort, but insisting that would only lead to the detriment of the music to follow.

The ideal must be to have players with perfect pitch – that internal sense and ability to play in tune no matter what. But players with this ability can be irritating and irritable; the former because their perfection points out our own imperfections and the latter because they have the ever-present burden of sensing all the off-pitch noises filling their imperfect world. And may two perfect-pitch players never disagree, for I am fearful that one may be compelled to shoot the other.

In 1 Corinthians 1:10, the Apostle Paul definitely encourages us all to play in tune: “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.” As hard as it is to tune an orchestra, it is much more difficult to reach agreement within the walls of a church. Indeed, the very presence of Paul’s appeal points to a need at that time. So how do we accomplish this today?

We often take the “follow-the-leader” approach only to find out the leader is off-pitch. We may discover the “digital tuner” model, which brings us to realize that God provided His Word as the perfect guidance we need. However, this model still requires us to believe its truth to the degree that we are willing to make our will subservient to the stated will of our Father. Ideally, we would like to attain perfect pitch with the Father, and indeed, we do have this opportunity!

Jesus prayed for each believer in John 17:21 that, “…those who believe in me…would be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.” Can this really be possible? Please remember who is praying! God provided the material answer to His Son’s prayer by placing within each believer the Holy Spirit to interpret and assist us in finding the right pitch. The very first note that affirms His presence in us is a humility that produces an honor for and obedience to His Word. The ideal church is one in which all members are not only listening to the Holy Spirit but adjusting their minds and actions to conform to His Word. The Bible provides much more meat to this direction, and Peter provides a great start in 1 Peter 3:8: “Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.” Are you in tune?

For the TRBC Orchestra on Aug 27, 2008