Galatians Series
By Gary Kinnaman

• 1 Are Peter and James Confused About How to Be Saved?
• 2 Jesus Plus Nothing?
• 3 Jesus Plus Something
• 4 JESUS + NOTHING and Arizona SB1070
• 5 JESUS + NOTHING Is an Excuse to Sin
• 6 Idiot Christians
• 7 Who’s Your Daddy?
• 8 Tryin’ to Love Two Woman
• 9 Who’s Your Mama?
• 10 Honey, I Shrunk Jesus
• 11 The Scandal of Jesus-Plus-Nothing
• 12 Jesus Plus the Fruit of the Spirit

Our Bible study brings us to one of the best known passages in the New Testament, the one about the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5.

Most of Paul’s letter to the Galatians addresses the problem of grace.  Yes, grace is a big problem for the person who has legalism in their soul, even just a pinch:  “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough” (Galatians 5:9).

We are not saved by human effort, nor does human effort sustain our salvation.  Our relationship with God rests on his unconditional grace alone, from beginning to end.  It’s important to keep pointing this out, because Galatians is not about getting saved, entering God’s family by grace alone.  It’s about the problem of Christians who believe you need unconditional grace to be saved, but who fall back on a little or a lot of effort to keep themselves in the family of God.

A good friend of mine objects to Jesus+nothing.  He says you’ve got to balance grace and responsibility.  I wholeheartedly agree!  Paul states, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Romans 6:1-2)

Galatians 5 makes it clear, however, that “balancing” grace and responsibility is not about grace plus our effort, something I call Jesus+something.  Our obedience after we’re saved is just as much about unconditional grace as initial salvation.  To make this clear in Galatians 5, Paul contrast the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit.

Furthermore, those who live in the “works of the flesh” will not inherit the kingdom of God.  Paul doesn’t say, “Those people will never go to heaven.”  The kingdom of God is, as Paul defines it in Romans, “righteousness [and all its positive consequences], joy and peace in the Holy Spirit”  (Romans 14:17).

Once you are saved, living for God is not the pathway to heaven.  Only Jesus can get you through the pearly gates!  No, obedience to God is the road to the best possible life in this life, the most fruitful life for God and others in this life, and rewards in heaven.  Listen to this:

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames. (1 Corinthians 3:11-15)

With these things in mind, let’s look at the last half of Galatians 5.

13a.  You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh…

Jesus+nothing is not an excuse to sin. It doesn’t eliminate or even minimize human responsibility.  Yet grace is never about rigorous rules or human effort.  God is love, which is why Paul’s logic in Galatians moves from unconditional grace for salvation to the “royal law” of love:

13b.  …rather, serve one another humbly in love 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other [italics mine].

In the verses that follow Paul tells us simply and clearly what love is and what it isn’t.  Love is not the gratifying of your own needs and selfish desires.  It’s not about you.  Instead, it’s entirely about the work of the Holy Spirit in you, not your personal effort.

16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

What pleases God is the very nature of God in you, because Jesus is in you, and the Holy Spirit works that out of you.  This is parallel:  “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:12-13).

Work out your salvation.  Don’t work for it.  Or on it.  Work it out, because it’s already in you.  You need it.  People around you need it.  They need to see the treasure that’s in your earthen vessel.

I’m jumping ahead here—and going back to something I’ve written in an earlier study.  Christians are fruit trees, not Christmas trees.  The work of God in our lives is entirely inside out and never outside in.  It’s the Spirit in us producing fruit.

Christmas trees are lifeless, while live trees have the capacity and power to bear fruit.  They don’t have to work on it, stress about it.  They don’t have to be coerced.  It’s in their nature.  Psalm 1 tells us that those who spend time with God are like a deeply rooted tree that “yields its fruit in season.”

Fruit bearing is natural. It’s the tree working out its inner nature and capacity.  Yet trees don’t bear fruit year round.  They do it “in season,” and some seasons are better than others.  Some days I look more like a follower of Jesus than others!

Every tree needs pruning from time to time, too.  This would be parallel to Father God disciplining his children, but never throwing them out of the family.

More on the fruit of the Spirit in a moment.  For now, though, let’s go back to archenemy of the Spirit:  the works of the flesh.

17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21a and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.

Ooh.  Nasty.  All of these “acts of the flesh” are diametrically and diabolically contrary to the fruit of the Spirit, so much so that Paul writes:

21b. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

“The kingdom of God” is everything in order in this life.  The Hebrew equivalent is shalom. Jesus called it “abundant life.”  The kingdom of God is God-life, eternal life in this life.  Those who live by the flesh will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Using the list of the “acts of the flesh” in verses 19-21 above, let’s talk about Jesus+something.  For you to go to heaven, is it necessary for you to believe in Jesus plus …

• … never engage in sexual immorality for the rest of your life?  Or only occasionally?  Or just once or twice, but nothing too perverted, like “debauchery” or “orgies”?  If it’s Jesus plus sexual purity, how pure?  Would this include no lustful thoughts, because Jesus said lust is the same as adultery?

  Don’t you see the impossibility of Jesus+something?  Yes, you should be sexually pure, but if you’re not, does it mean you’re going to hell even though you’ve been born again?

  For sure, if you live like the devil, you will deprive yourself of the life of God.  You’ll make yourself and others miserable.  Your life will feel like hell, but will you go to hell when you die too?  No!

  Certainly, you won’t experience rich kingdom life in this life, and to use the words of Paul in the 1 Corinthians passage above, you “will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.”

• … have no idols in your garage?  What about your career?  Is that an idol?   How about this:  “Put to death … greed, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5).  Are greedy Christians going to hell?  How greedy do you have to be?  Or is this just referring to all-you-can eat buffets?

  I don’t believe you will burn forever for wanting something really bad, or wanting more and more, but greed in any form will push God-life out of your life.

• … live free of hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions.  Oops, I guess that rules out everybody who’s ever been in the middle of a church split.  Or at least one side of the faction is sure to go to hell, right?

  Take each of these “acts of the flesh.”  At which point, in the practice of any of these behaviors, does God say, “Enough!  Out you go!”  Is the Christian life Jesus plus no jealousy?  Ever?  Or no fits of rage or selfish ambition?  Ever?  Or just rarely?

  Again, do this stuff, and God-life will drain out of your heart and mind.  Hell will fill the void.  Right here.  Right now.  But does anger send Christians to hell?  And if so, how much?

  Personally, I’ve struggled with anger issues.  I’ve had fits of rage.  At home.  Even at times in pastoral leadership.  It’s shamed me.  It’s limited my effectiveness.  It’s cause pain for others.  The Holy Spirit has been grieved, and his presence has lifted from my life when I give in to the flesh.  But does God love me less?  Is his saving grace conditional?  No and no!

  I may be a disobedient son.  A son that embarrasses the Father.  A prodigal.  But I’m still a son.  Yet if I don’t make things right with God before life ends, I “will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.”

• … never envious?   Actually, I’ve never met a Christian who doesn’t struggle with envy.

Christians who do things open their lives to the spirit of darkness.  Those who persist in the acts of the flesh create their own hell on earth, making life miserable for themselves and others.  They’ve emptied the Lord’s prayer of it’s power:  Your kingdom come … ­on earth as it is in heaven.”  God’s rich purposes and blessings for them in this life are not realized.  In the end, they “will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.”

In fantastic contrast,

22 … the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

This is the God-life I’m talkin’ about!  It’s the kingdom.  Shalom.  Everything right in your world, all rooted in the supreme fruit of the Spirit:  love.

To sum it up, Paul exclaims,

24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Preaching

April 1, I had a glorious time speaking to Leonel Robaina’s large and vibrant bi-lingual church, Iglesia Manantial De Amor (Fountain of Love) just blocks from downtown Los Angeles.  Many people prayed to ask Jesus into their lives.

The night before, Marilyn and I were special guests for a 50 year anniversary event for Alberto Mottesi.  I am Chairman of the Board of Directors for his ministry, an extraordinary opportunity and privilege, as Dr. Mottesi is, perhaps, the most influential evangelist in Latin America.  Bill Bright called him “the Billy Graham of Latin America,” and he’s been known as the “Pastor to Presidents.”  I led a re-commissioning prayer team at Bishop Charles Blake’s West Angeles Cathedral.  About 5000 attended the event.

Leading the prayer at the 50th Anniversary on Alberto Mottesi’s ministry @ West Angeles Cathedral

I was invited to preach 36 Sundays last year—and 32 so far this year, with many dates still open this fall.  I’m so grateful for so many opportunities to share God’s Word. For my speaking schedule, see http://v2.garykinnaman.com/?page_id=12.  Email or call each church or ministry for confirmation.

Consulting And Coaching

Leadership School for Hispanic Pastors. My good friend and colleague Jose Gonzalez has asked me to help him launch a school of leadership for Hispanic pastors in the Phoenix area, many of whom are undertrained.  Phoenix Seminary is providing a meeting place for our monthly, morning-long meetings, and key pastors across the Valley will be teaching on leadership and growing the local church.  Over 30 Hispanic leaders have signed up, and we are expecting many more, as the Hispanic network of Assemblies of God churches wants to be a part of this.

Our goal is threefold: (1) to teach leadership and church growth; (2) to build relationships and networks between and among Hispanic pastors; and (3) to connect Latino churches with key church leaders in the Valley.

Jose Gonzalez says, “Gary is a key person in my new effort to train Hispanic pastors. His role as a mentor and special collaborator has been of very special help. The new effort in training Hispanic pastors is called “Community Leaders,” and our purpose is to get help from Anglo pastors of large churches to teach Hispanic pastors.  This effort would not be possible without the Gary’s partnership.”

Networking Leaders

My goal: http://v2.garykinnaman.com/?page_id=681 and http://v2.garykinnaman.com/?page_id=303.

Radio KPXQ 1360. Jim Ryan (station manager for KPXQ) and Diane Zapponi (program director for the station) have invited me to work with them for our mutual dream:  to bring together pastors and other Christian leaders in the Valley—and to build unity in order to serve our communities together. As a part of my work with the station, they’ve asked me to be a frequent guest host with Tom Brown on his daily show, Koinonia.  I’m interviewing a half a dozen senior pastors each month, asking them about their personal story, how they are working with other pastors in their communities, and what their church is doing to make a difference outside the walls of their building.

“UNDIVIDED: One Church Serving the Valley” While still at Word of Grace, I launched 3K+, a quarterly gathering of pastors with churches of 3000 or more in attendance.  This grew into an annual Pastors of Influence Summit.  All but a couple pastors of the largest churches Arizona have participated.  In January, Don Wilson of Christ Church of the Valley (20,000 in attendance!), who agreed to lead our “movement,” hosted a day-long meeting where we talked seriously about working together on specific challenges in our city and state, specifically children and youth. The leaders there agreed to meet quarterly for all day meetings to develop and implement a strategic plan for the transformation of our state.  Our second meeting is next week.  Pray for us!

Nothing But Grace LLC

Thanks to the excellent and generous work of attorney Robert Brown, as of December 2011 Grace Unlimited Inc is now Nothing But Grace LLC.  We can receive tax-deductible donations directly to Nothing But Grace. We’re also set up to receive contributions through PayPal:  http://v2.garykinnaman.com/?page_id=8. 

It’s been said the Protestant Reformation changed the work habits of Western Civilization.  Indeed, Roman Catholics have a theology of work, but Martin Luther’s views on daily labor were revolutionary.  As much as anyone, Luther was the father of what we call the Protestant work ethic.

Luther reintroduced us to the biblical teaching that we are a kingdom of priests.  Each of us, he taught, can have direct access to God the Father, something that’s been referred to as the “priesthood of every believer.”

This was nothing new.  God said to Moses centuries BC, “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6).

In the New Testament, the apostle John returns to this theme:  ” You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:10).

Mini-intermediaries

But there was more.  Our priesthood as individuals is not just about having personal access to God.  As priests we are mini-intermediaries.  God’s purpose is for us to stand between heaven and earth, to be mediators, not of salvation itself, but of the message of salvation in what we say to and do for others:  “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19).

Jesus adds to this, “You are the salt of the earth …. You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:12-14), and he commands us to go out there into the world and compel others to follow Christ.

Our message, though, isn’t just in what we say, “not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power” (I Corinthians 2:4).  It’s in what we do, how we serve others.

Just today my path crossed with an extraordinary Christian leader, David Le Shana, who currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Azusa Pacific University in Southern California.  His son, he told me, while pastoring a local church, raised over $1 million to build a vital bridge in Nepal.  That extraordinary act of love and generosity resulted in the salvation of many people in an area of the world nearly closed to the Christian faith.

Wordless witnesses

Most of you will never build a bridge in Nepal, but you can be a wordless witness wherever your life takes you, which brings us back to the Protestant work ethic.  Luther told his congregants, “You are all priests.  You are all ministers of the gospel.  Look around in the place where you work.  What are are your tools?  What are you building, cooking, creating?  Those pots and pans, those carpenter tools, they are instruments of God, gifts God has given you to serve others.”

That’s a simplification, a paraphrase of history, of course.  But Luther wanted everyone in his church to know that they were no a less a minister than those serving in the robes of the clergy.

Essentially he taught that we are to work for God’s glory and to serve others, which transformed the Western world.  People no longer lived hand to mouth, working only to provide for their own essential needs.  As people worked to honor God and serve others, productivity and wealth rose.

Each year in the fall at Word of Grace, I had special prayer for everyone in the congregation who worked in the often maligned public schools.  My dad was a public school teacher, as were my brothers, and now my son-in-law.  My brother said to me from time to time, “Teaching middle school kids is my ministry.”  As teachers go, he was one of the best.

The tools of your trade

What about you?  What are the tools of your trade?  What opportunities do you have to use your work as service to others?  Paul wrote, ” Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters” (Colossians 3:23).

Did you know that the word “vocation” comes from the Latin vox, or voice?  Your vocation is your calling. For the Christian, there is no such thing as secular work.

In the “secular” world, people work for income and identity.  In God’s world, our identity is not in our success, our position in life.  It’s in Christ.  Furthermore, we do not believe that our job, our business is our source of income.  God is the one who provides, which by the way is why Proverbs teaches us to give our “firstfruits” back to God to acknowledge the blessing comes from the Lord, not just from the work of our hands.

My dear friend and colleague, Church Fitzgerald, has an extraordinary story of influence and promotion.  His secret?  He wrote this to me recently:

During my former career as a sales professional, I always chose my office space based on its proximity to the front door.  While my colleagues wanted a private workspace, a quiet and hidden place away from people, I wanted to be as near as possible to our customers.  My reasoning was simple.  I believed that the closer I was to our customers, the more I could be of service to them.  This was a very successful strategy for me.

Today in my role as the Faith-based and Community Initiatives leader for the State of Arizona, I still find myself wanting to be nearest my customers.  You’re not in sales?  Hey, we all have customers!  Yes, my wife, my children, my boss, my friends, my co-workers, co-members of boards of directors, neighbors, the needy.  They’re all my customers!  They are all people God has given me to serve!

I’ve tried hard to understand why my view of “the customer” is not shared by many people. I’ve read books about success in business, and I’ve spent time in seminars listening to experts,  But for me, my personal philosophy of work is simple:  I view my work as service to others.  In fact, I view my entire life as service.

Through my work, whether as a sales professional, or now as a public servant working in state government, God has always provided my family with our basic needs—and more than enough other stuff!  We have been more fortunate than so many others, and we are very grateful for this.  In my sales career, my primary motivation was money.  My primary motivation today is simply “how can I be of service to you?”

My old belief: It’s all about me.

My new belief: It’s all about you.

Often my view of work as service seems contrary to what I see in my friends and colleagues.  So why is it so right for me?  Why do I approach others with an attitude that says, “I’m not here to get something from you; I’m here to serve you”?

For me the answer in deeply rooted in my relationship with God.  I sense his love and grace daily, and I believe passionately that my primary responsibility is to pass it on.  To continually give it away.  To continually give myself away.  The more I give of myself to others, the more it comes back to me.

I believe there is a very special and meaningful place of service for everyone who wants it.  God is ready to fill everyone with his love and grace, to fill them to the point of overflowing.  All we need to do is ask for it.

Serving people is serving God.  Loving people is loving God.

Serving is loving.

They were all weeping.  Paul and the elders of the young church in Ephesus.  They were on their knees together by the harbor in city of Miletus.  About to board a ship for Jerusalem, Paul was saying goodbye forever.

“Keep watch over yourselves,” he urged them, “and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.”

It’s noteworthy here that Paul’s priority was not ministry to the church, but how leaders first have to watch over their own souls.  Simply stated, you can’t lead a healthy ministry if you’re sick.  You can’t help others if you can’t help yourself.

A primal problem

I was a senior pastor of a large church for twenty-five years.  I’m often asked, Do you have any regrets?  Or, Is there anything you’d do differently?

My simple answer:  I’d trust God more.

I know.  That sounds superficial.  Dumb.  Like, who doesn’t need to trust God more?

Let me explain.  When I was very young, I heard an influential Christian leader say, “If you are disappointed in yourself, you’ve been trusting in yourself.”  In other words, trusting God and trusting yourself are mutually exclusive.  The more you trust yourself, the less you trust God.

So my problem through the years, to say it another way, is that, through the years I’ve put a lot of trust in me.

The up and down of ambition

This is a very real problem for everyone in ministry.  For everyone period. The call to serve is rooted deeply in an overwhelming sense of responsibility to God and to those he’s given us to serve.  Ambition to live a fruitful life is good.  The downside, though, is  that the more ambitious you are, the harder you’ll work.  Ambition morphs into obsession.  Of course, success is more likely if you work hard, but hardworking people, especially when it leads to success, tend to believe that it’s because they’re hardworking.

It’s why Jesus said, and I paraphrase, “It’s easier for a camel to go through a keyhole than for a successful person to enter the kingdom of God.”  Not go to heaven, mind you, but to enter the kingdom, which is simply God’s rule and reign in this life.  “Thy kingdom come and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Ambitious people, successful people are self-sufficient­ people.  It’s not that they don’t trust God.  Successful people aren’t bad people. They just have a lot of self-confidence.

I liken it to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden.  The more you know right from wrong, the more your eyes will be open, and the better your chances of being successful.  It might even make you feel a little like God.  It’s a real temptation to put your life into your own hands.  You could teach a lot of inherently good things that gently but relentlessly reduce the need for God in your life.

I believe this is also related to something else Jesus said:  “To whom much is given, much is required.”  Someone who is wealthy, for example, should be more generous than someone who is poor.  But we all know that just the opposite is true.  National studies of giving patterns tell us that rich people give a smaller percentage of their income than poor people. I mean, how hard is it to live on 75% or even 50% of a couple million dollars?  But In fact, the more people make, the more the generosity factor goes down.

Rich people may appear to be more generous, but it’s not what you give, it’s what you have left.  CNN recently reported that a Las Vegas billionaire gave $10 million to the campaign of one of the Republic candidates running for President. But CNN did a little math.  Based on the net worth of the billionaire, his gift of ten mil was the equivalent of one us regular people giving around $45. For most of us, that’s not wildly generous.

The richer people are, the easier it is for them to put their confidence in their wealth.  Similarly, the more successful people are, the more self-confident and self-possessed they can become.  We get used to making things happen, and without thinking about, we squeeze out the God factor.

Pastors are no exception

To put it in ministry terms, the bigger your church and the wider your influence, the more likely you’ll believe in yourself and less in others. Success guru John Maxwell has taught this for years:  on a leadership scale of 1 to 10, 6s will never lead 8s and 9s.  So will 8s and 9s even listen to 5s and 6s, let alone respect them?

On the other hand, Maxwell has also taught that, as a leader, you have to raise the number you see on everyone else’s forehead, which itself suggests that we look up at some people and down on others.  Maxwell suggests that you have to see a 1 as a 3 or 4, and a 5 as a 6 or 7.  The more you believe in them, he teaches, the more likely they will succeed.

Frankly, that’s not easy to do.  It’s counter-intuitive.  It’s something you have to work on, because even if you’re a Christian, your fallen nature will compel you to compare yourself with others.  Try as you may, this ain’t easy:  “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves” (Philippians 2:3).  Abiding by this scripture is like trying to keep your New Year’s resolution to lose twenty-eight pounds.  You lose five, and you have a triple scoop banana split to celebrate.

I’ve been successful.  Led a megachurch.  Touched thousands of lives.  Earned graduate degrees and written books.  Has that influenced me to compare myself with others?  To slot myself a little higher in the pecking order of life?  You bet.  I’m as ambitious and competitive as they come.

But has any of that made me a better person or a deeper Christian?  No.

A friend of mine, the pastor of a great and huge church, said to me not too long ago, “Sometimes I don’t like what leading this successful church as done to me.”  In contrast, Paul put it this way:

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. [Paul let it go.]  What is more, I consider everything [I've let it all go] a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage [the Spanish translation uses the word for cow poop] that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

So a “successful” person/pastor should be more sensitive, more flexible, more humble, more Christ-like, because “the greatest among you is the servant of all.”  Yet we discover that, when we’re successful and others like us, it makes us feel better about ourselves—and better than others.  So getting a great response from a great sermon, for example, gives us gives a feeling of self-worth, something that can become an elixir, a kind of emotional cocktail.  Because we are doing well we think we are well, but it’s an illusion of well-being.  On Christ the solid rock I stand, and all other ground is sinking sand.

The richer you are, the harder it is to let go of your money.  Similarly, the more successful you are, the harder it is to let go of your own efforts to be successful, the more difficult it is to believe that everything you have is a gift from God and that it really had nothing to do with you.  We drift from finding our identity in Christ alone to living in the identity our success has given us.

Joel Osteen is wildly successful and, with some people, just as controversial.  Yet I’ve never seen his name on a leadership conference brochure. I’ve heard he simply doesn’t do sessions on church success.  Why?  Because, he confesses, he really has no idea why he has been so ridiculously successful.

Pride is a primal problem for everyone in ministry, which is why God’s word tells Christian leaders, “Watch over yourselves.”  But how?

In my experience, there are only two ways to do this:  (1) deep relationship with God and (2) accountable relationships with others.

Keeping the Sabbath

Let’s talk first about deep relationship with God, specifically in the context of Sabbath.  The Sabbath was originally designed as a weekly discipline to remind God’s people that he was in control of all their work, that they had to trust him and not their own efforts to grow crops, to raise livestock, to make money, even to relate properly to their families.  It wasn’t just about resting, taking a day off in a busy, stressful week.  It was about reminding yourself that everything in your life was in the hands of God, even your spiritual life and salvation.

The Sabbath was to be a weekly call to let go of your own efforts and trust God.

The purpose of the Sabbath can be seen in the in the sequence of the Ten Commandments.  The first three call us into relationship with God: no other gods, no idols, and no taking God’s name in vain.  The last six commandments are about our relationships with other people and possessions.

The commandment to “keep the Sabbath” is a bridge from our relationship with God to our relationship with others and material things.  The order of the Commandments puts God first, Sabbath second, and everything else third.  The Hebrew word “Sabbath” means simply “to pause,” to stop, step back and remember that God is in control, we’re not.

The Sabbath was to be a weekly reminder that our relationship with God has to penetrate every element of our lives.

Let’s look at a significant Sabbath passage in the Old Testament:  Exodus 31:12-17.

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy (italics mine).

So Sabbath was first and above all to be a sign that God is in control not only of our physical lives, but of our spiritual journey as well.  Jaweh is the one who sanctifies us, makes us holy.  We are saved by grace, not our efforts, and we are kept saved by grace, not our efforts.

God created everything in six days, and on the Seventh Day he rested from his work.  In the New Testament, when Jesus died on the Cross, he cried out, “It is finished.”  In the Greek it’s the word, tetelestai, which means more fully, “It is fulfilled,” or “It is perfect.”  He died the perfect sacrifice, was raised from the dead, and as a statement about his finished work, he sat down at the right hand of the Father,

He did it all.  Nothing else can be done.  So now we can rest fully in Christ’s perfect work.  He is our eternal Sabbath.

The passage in Exodus continues:

” ‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people.  For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death.

In the context of the New Testament, I take this to mean that when you step out of the finished work of Christ and think that somehow, someway it’s up to you, it’ll just kill ya.

Paul argues along these lines when he writes,

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.  I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard?  Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?  (Galatians 3:1-3)

Religion says do. Grace says done.

Sabbath forever

The last part of the Exodus passages tells us,

The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant.  It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested’ ” (italics mine).

A lasting covenant?  Yes, somehow the importance of the Sabbath didn’t just go away in the New Testament.  It was meant to be something perpetual, something eternal.  We see this, of course, in the finished work of Christ.

Yet the Sabbath is also something we can’t ignore as an important facet of our daily lives.  We’re saved by grace, but we desperately need God in every moment, in every relationship, in our work, and in our attitudes about money, possessions and success.  Everything we have—people, things, and time—belongs to God.

We need to pause.  To stop and realign.  To invite God into each moment.

We need to live the Sabbath by embracing the moment by moment sacred discipline of letting go.

The writer of Hebrews urges us, “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest.”  So what’s up with that?  Strive to enter rest?!  Yes, the most difficult thing in life is to let go.

The rhythms of life

Practicing the Sabbath is about understanding, valuing and embracing the God-ordained rhythms of life.  For everything there is a season.  A time.  A place.

Morning and evening
Day and night

Twenty-four hours, seven days, twelve months
Winter, spring, summer, fall

A time to win, time to lose
A time to succeed, a time to fail

A time to laugh, a time to cry
A time to grow, a time to grow old.

You gotta know when to hold ‘em
You got when to fold ‘em
You gotta know when to walk way
You gotta know when to run

There is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven

What season are you in right now?

What’s your time of life?
The ages of your kids?
The state of your church?  Growing, in decline?
A winning season?  A losing season?
A time to build?  A time to tear down?
A time to stop?  A time to go?
A time to walk?  To run?  To sit down?

Whatever the season, it’s always time to let go.

Practicing the discipline of letting go

• God-thoughts to reset your thoughts

Learning to be content.  You aren’t in control, God is.  See

Unless the Lord build the house, we labor in vain.  You aren’t in control, God is.

The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.  In either case, blessed be the name of the Lord. You aren’t in control, God is.

Don’t be anxious about anything.  Let it go.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 4:4-7)

Oh what pain we often forfeit.
Oh what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer.

For Brendan Manning practicing the Sabbath would mean a life of “ruthless trust.”

• Resetting  the rhythms of your week

What days do you take off?  Do you really take them off?  Is God really in control, or are you?

Do you have any interests other than religious work?  Do you feel guilty if you do?

How often to you turn off your cell phone?  How often do you check your phone for texts?  Email?  Does your phone make bleepin’ sounds every time an email or text or tweet comes flying at you through cyberspace?

Can you say no to electronic communication for 24 hours?  48 hours?

Do you arrange regular time-with-God prayer retreats?  Retreat from technology?  Does God rule your life, or does your smart phone?

Do you ever take a sabbatical?

Do you block out time for your wife, your kids, your grandkids, your best friends?

Have you embraced the rhythms of regular exercise, diet, a good night’s sleep?

If you don’t do these things, it might just kill ya.

All of us in ministry have heard this one:  “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

People who talk a lot about spiritual conflict seem to focus on the second part of this verse and pretty much ignore the phrase:  not against flesh and blood. Another common error is to think about this verse outside its context, which allows us to fast forward into the more intriguing demons-of-darkness part of the passage.  You know, if we fast and pray, the dark towers of Mordor will come crashing down. Our Middle Earth will be free at last.

Yeah, there are demons.  More frightening than the drooling ghouls of Lord of the Rings, but the battle isn’t just about us and them.  It’s about us and us.  Look at the context, beginning in 5:21:  Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”  This is the supreme principle governing all our important relationships at home and at work, which are identified by Paul in the verses which follow:

• Husbands love your wives.
• Wives submit to your husband.
• Children obey your parents.
• Parents, don’t provoke your children.
• Slaves (employees?) work hard
• Masters (supervisors?) treat your slaves well.

Marriage.  Children.  Work. And then in verse 10, because home and work are the battlegrounds of life, Paul writes, “Finally [or therefore, which denotes a concluding statement] be strong in the Lord and in his might power.  Put on the full armor of God,”  because “our struggle is not against flesh and blood.”

In other words, what happens in our homes and at work—and in our churches and mininstries—is not just about what happens in our homes and at work—and in our churches.  Yes, we have people problems, but under it all, over it all, around it all are spiritual forces of darkness.  The wise person looks beyond the more obvious human elements of every problem and, without downplaying them, sees that life is a spiritual battle, that our natural world is constantly interfacing with the spiritual world.

I was talking with a highly competent young woman on our church staff.  She was telling me about a difficult leadership situation she was facing, and how it seemed to be possessing her thoughts and emotions.  She said, “My feelings about this whole thing have been entirely disproportionate to the circumstances.  So I said to myself this is not natural.  This is supernatural.”

I’ve written several books about spiritual stuff:

• Signs Shall Follow, about the charimata, the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
• Winning Your Spiritual Battles: How to Put on the Whole Armor of God
• Angels Dark And Light, which has sold over 100,000 copies

In each of these books (two of the three are available in my website bookstore), I’ve tried to address a core issue:  our general blindness to and apathy about the reality of the spiritual dimension and it’s affect on our daily lives. It’s a cultural problem, because our “civilized” modern world has an anti-supernatural bias.

You know, all that stuff about angels and demons is primitive thinking, and national news wouldn’t think of the possible spiritual side of everything from hurricanes to revolutions.  Even in many local churches, where people love the Bible, there is resistance to things like praying for physical healing or, God help us, speaking in tongues.

What Paul writes in Ephesians 1 is, I think, particularly applicable to Christians in North America:

18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know [1] the hope to which he has called you, [2] the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and [3] his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Why do we need our eyes open?  Why do we need incomparably great power?  We have three big problems that need a big, supernatural God:

We see through a glass darkly

Paul writes about life in the here-and-now in contrast to life after life:  “We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! (1 Corinthians 13:12, The Message).

I especially like the reading of this verse in the old King James:  “For now [in this life] we see through a glass, darkly; but then [life after death] face to face.”  In other words, seeing the reality of the spiritual dimension in this life is just plain difficult, like looking into a car with dark-tinted windows.  Even the apostle Paul, who had “seen” the third heaven and things he had no words to describe, recognized the powerful pull of the natural world on our thoughts and feelings.

This is why he also tells us that we should “live by faith and not by sight.”  Yet any survey of Christians, even the best kind, would probably tell us that it’s much easier to live by sight and not by faith.

I’ve spent my life in ministry, preached hundreds of sermons, have two seminary degrees, and have authored multiple books on the Christian faith.  I have to confess, though, that it’s easier for me, like Thomas, to believe what I see around me more than I believe in God’s Word and the reality of the spiritual realm.  Why? Because our fallen human nature binds us to time and space—and blinds us to the realities of the spiritual dimension.

It all started in Genesis 3:

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”

4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

It seems pretty clear that Satan’s offer means that their spiritual eyes would be opened, and as a result they would become more like God.  So …

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened …

Just like the devil said! But …

… they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves

Forgive me for being crass, but at the first reading, this seems like a story for little children.  Even ludicrous.  Here we have the moment in creation history when sin and death enter the human race, and the first consequence of this dreadful moment is that Adam and Eve, like in a bad dream, realize they left for work without getting dressed.

I can imagine their bulging eyes and high pitched screams as they see each other’s naked, pink bodies for the first time.  Or maybe their bodies were milk chocolate brown.  And like anyone else caught naked, they frantically made themselves fig leaf coveralls.

But surely there must be more to this ancient narrative.  We read a little later in Genesis 3 that, as a result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, human beings were sentence to the certainty of physical death.  But something else died right then and there:  our capacity to have open relationship with God.  To walk and talk with him.  To see him as we hope to see him when we pass from this life to the next.  As a result of the original sin, we also lost our pristine capacity to allow our lives to be governed entirely by the reality of the spiritual realm, instead of the curse of being bound by time, space, and the daily circumstances of life.

When Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened, human nature was turned upside-down.  Physical sight became primary and our capacity for spiritual sight was severely disabled.  Ever since, we have to look at heaven through brown frosted glass, and life is a struggle to keep our eyes fixed “not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).

It’s why Paul prayed for the Ephesians, for the eyes of their hearts, their spiritual eyes, to be opened to the realities of God’s reality and power.

The resurrection of Christ gives us a glimpse of the future, where our literal, physical bodies will continue to exist in but won’t be bound by time and space. Just ask the apostle Thomas about the resurrected Jesus.  He poked his finger in his his wounds, and some of the other disciples had breakfast with Jesus on the beach.  Yet something about Jesus’ new body was ethereal—not bound by time and space.

So why do we need our eyes open?  Because we’ve been spiritually blinded by sin.  But there’s more.

We pride ourselves in not being superstitious

In Western culture, even though we love things like Harry Potter and vampires, we don’t really believe in that stuff.

Christian author and student of the spiritual realm, George Otis Jr., writes, “The worldview of most non-Westerners is three-tiered:  on the top is the cosmic, transcendent world, in the middle are supernatural forces on the earth, and on the bottom rests the empirical world of our senses.  The unique tendency of Western society [Europe and North America] has been to ignore the reality of the middle zone.”

Even our language, English—and other western languages—betray our ignorance of the spiritual realm.  Did you know that the English word “supernatural” does not appear anywhere in the Bible?  There is simply no equivalent in Hebrew or Greek for our terms:  natural/ supernatural.  Instead, the Bible uses words like “sign” or “wonder” or “miracles.”  Instead, in the Bible—and in other cultures—the two worlds are equally real and fully integrated.

In India, for example, the amount every rupee note (their money) is printed in fifteen languages in fifteen different alphabets!  According to my friend in northern India, Paul Pilai, planter of thousands of churches, the English word “supernatural” has no equivalent in any of the fifteen major languages of India.  Again, the idea of two different realms, separate from one another, is foreign to most of the world’s population.

Why do we need our eyes open?  Why do we need incomparably great power?

Life is a spiritual battle

I absolutely love Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of Ephesians 6: because he captures the gladiatorial aspect of our “struggle” against principalities of darkness:

This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels (The Message)

Let me show you from the Bible how virtually every aspect of human life is a spiritual battle.

Your mind

But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3)

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

Your attitudes and emotions

In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry and do not give the devil a foothold (Ephesians 4:26-27).

Your family and your work

Once again, the context of Ephesians 6:12  husbands and wives, parents and children, employers and employees—the flesh and blood of the home and the work place.  Sometimes the daily battles of life merge with spiritual darkness, so if life sometimes feel like hell, it is.

God’s work, advancing God’s kingdom, telling others about Jesus

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient (Ephesians 2:1-2).

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4).

In conclusion, then, if the spiritual realm is real and it intersects our lives daily, it will alter the way we do life, the way we relate to one another, the way we resolve conflicts, the way we share our faith.  We will talk—and yell—less.  We’ll fast and pray more.

Galatians Series
By Gary Kinnaman

• 1 Are Peter and James Confused About How to Be Saved?
• 2 Jesus Plus Nothing?
• 3 Jesus Plus Something
• 4 JESUS + NOTHING and Arizona SB1070
• 5 JESUS + NOTHING Is an Excuse to Sin
• 6 Idiot Christians
• 7 Who’s Your Daddy?
• 8 Tryin’ to Love Two Woman
• 9 Who’s Your Mama?
• 10 Honey, I Shrunk Jesus
• 11 The Scandal of Jesus-Plus-Nothing
• 12 Jesus Plus the Fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:7-12

How anyone can read Galatians 5 and still believe that Jesus-just-Jesus isn’t enough is incomprehensible.  The apostle Paul’s reasoning in this chapter and his defense of the absolutely pure gospel of Jesus-plus-nothing is irrefutable.

Yet this chapter is also Paul’s best response to the age-old question:  If my relationship with God is based on Jesus-plus-nothing, if grace is God’s totally unmerited love and favor from initial salvation to the day I meet my Maker, why should I worry about living right? Why should it matter?

Paul’s simple answer is in verse 13:  “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh,” and in 6:7-8 he declares:  “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.  Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”

Jesus-plus-nothing is never an excuse to sin.  Living in sin limits the blessing of God and puts our future in this life at risk.  Yet living in sin does not end our relationship with God that comes to us in the new birth.  In other words, a prodigal son is no less a son than than one who is obedient.

It’s so clear in Jesus’ story of the two brothers (Luke 15:11-32) that they are loved equally by the father regardless of their behavior.  The lesson is that Father God’s love is unwavering, even when we are unfaithful, even though our unfaithfulness has dreadful temporal consequences.  On the other hand, the lesson we learn from the good brother is that, just as his bad brother’s behavior doesn’t change his father’s love, his own good behavior is not what earns his father’s favor.  Both sons are loved simply because they are sons.

More on this when we come to the end of chapter 5, but first let’s see how Paul identifies six reasons why Jesus-plus-something is ridiculously and perilously wrong.

Jesus-plus-something is simply not from God: “You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?  That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you (verse 8).”

Already Paul is implying that living by grace isn’t an excuse to sit on the side lines and wait for the Second Coming.  We’re in a race.  We’re also supposed to obey the truth, but “the truth” to which Paul refers, of course, is the truth of the pure gospel.  In other words, obeying the truth isn’t just about doing good works, behaving ourselves righteously.  Instead, we have to give up trusting our efforts to please God.

I am made perfectly righteous before God the day I’m born again because of the righteousness of Jesus in me and on me.  And every new day of the rest of my life I stand perfectly righteous before God because of Jesus in me and on me.  Remember Hebrews 10:14, which tells us that by one sacrifice he made us perfect forever.

Jesus-plus-something is dangerous even in small dosages: “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough (verse 9).”
In the Bible, yeast is most often a symbol of sin.  During Passover, for example, the Jewish people had to remove all the yeast from their homes and eat unleavened (unyeasted) bread.  In this case, Paul is using yeast as a symbol God-pleasing through self-effort.  You just can’t minimize the impact of Jesus-plus-something.  Just a pinch of yeast affects the entire batch of dough.

Jesus-plus-something is simply not the right view of things: “  I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view” (verse 10a).

More strong language from Paul:  He’s right and every other view on this is wrong.

Jesus-plus-something brings confusion:  “The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be” (verse 10b).

Jesus-plus-nothing is controversial, even offensive, but it’s very simple:  My hope is build on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.  It’s so simple that religious people think it’s too simple.  They just can’t believe that that relationship with God from beginning to end is based solely on Jesus in me.

Jesus-plus-something, on the other hand, is not at all controversial.  It feels comfortable.  It gives God credit, but it also satisfies the my need to feel like I’ve done something good.  In the end, though, Jesus-plus-something is the source of confusion and uncertainty, because everyone seems to have a different idea of the “something” and how much of it we need.  Jesus-plus-something is a black hole, a bottomless pit.

For the ancient Jewish Christians the “something” was circumcision.  For legalistic Christians, it could be any number of things, from smoking a cigarette to premarital sex.  For just plain religious people, it could be how much we read or don’t read the Bible, or pray, or attend church or mass.  Personally, Jesus-plus-something drives me crazy, because everyone I talk to about it has a different answer to the question:  what’s the something?

Go ahead.  Do your own survey.  Ask other Christians, “If salvation is based on Jesus-plus-something, what is it?  How much of it do we need?  And who’s going to decide?  All the answers you get will drive you crazy, too.

Jesus-plus-something waters down the power of the cross: “Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished” (verse 11).

This is a remarkable statement.  Paul explains: If you let yourself be circumcised, that is, if you believe that your eternal relationship with God is based on Jesus-plus-circumcision, you eliminate the offense (skandalon in Greek) of the Cross.

What the scandal of the cross?  What offends people?  The cross says that there is absolutely nothing you can do to save yourself.  No human effort can save you or keep you saved.  Even just a little human effort is a problem, that is, Jesus plus just a few little things.  Legalistic leaven that ruins the whole batch of grace dough.

Our utter helplessness in the matter of our own salvation is scandalous. This is the reason that Jesus-plus-something is always offensive to the most religious people and, conversely such good news to people who are struggling.

Jesus has essentially the same scandalous message in Luke 18:

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Scandalous!

Jesus-plus-something makes Paul really angry:  “As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves! (verse 12)”

Ooh, I wonder if Paul went to heaven.  He’s not very nice.  He’s screaming, “As for those people who want to circumcise the Gentiles because they think that’s what’s going to make them holy, well, those people should just drop their pants and cut their whole thing off.”

So do you still believe in Jesus-plus-something?  What’s your “something”?  And how much of it do I need to insure my salvation?

“We have a couple hundred people from Nepal,” pastor Michael Maiden told me recently.

Michael spoke to our monthly gathering of the Grace Association of churches in January.  About God’s unique plans and purposes for each of us in ministry.  About how all of us have been called to impact our city together. We sat there captivated by his insights.  By his presence.  By the presence of God on his life.

Most of the time when I’m in church, I feel nothing.  I know in my heart that God is there, and I’m touched by the worship, moved by the Word.  From time to time, though, each of us has those really special moments the apostle Paul describes in I Corinthians 14:25,

As the secrets of their hearts are laid bare … they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”

That’s how I felt listening to Michael.

I think I heard God’s voice, too.  A scripture I hadn’t thought about for years came to mind:

Thus saith the LORD, Make this valley full of ditches (2 Kings 3:16).

Eugene Peterson paraphrases it this way in The Message:

Dig ditches all over this valley. Here’s what will happen—you won’t hear the wind, you won’t see the rain, but this valley is going to fill up with water and your army and your animals will drink their fill. This is easy for God to do.

Not that valley

The passage is talking about that valley, the one way over there in the Middle East, south of Jerusalem in the desert of Edom.  Been there.  It’s as desolate as any place on earth and as hot as Arizona in the summer.

Yet the Bible has timeless applications.  A verse here, a passage there:  we know each one has an ancient context, but the ever present God keeps speaking through His written word to you and me.

So when the Bible refers to a “valley full of ditches,” I can’t help but think about Phoenix, my valley, our Valley of the Sun.  Centuries ago, an indigenous people–without the benefit of iron tools–built five hundred miles of canals to carry water from the Salt River to distant villages and parched fields (http://www.srpnet.com/water/canals/origins.aspx and http://ltvtp.shesc.asu.edu/hohokam%20canal%20systems.jpg ).

Those people mysteriously vanished.  Yet hundreds of years later, people returned to desolate valley and restored many of the prehistoric canals.  Like a patchwork phoenix, miles of cotton and alfalfa fields alongside vast acres of emerald citrus groves rose from the desert dust.

Our new valley

I  had breakfast this morning with a new pastor friend, Scott Brown.  The name of his church?  New Valley.  That’s my prayer and my life work.  I have a dream.  Of a new Valley.  Our Valley full of ditches, with the presence of God like life-giving water, surging through those ditches to every neighborhood in our megacity.

That image makes me think a couple other passages:

This water flows there [into the Dead Sea and the wilderness of Edom] and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live (Ezekiel 47:9).

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations (Revelation 22:1-2).

So then, God says, “Make this valley full of ditches.”  In anticipation of a God-movement in our city, let me suggest a few ditches.

First ditch:  unity in the church

It’s a tired verse, but I hope it isn’t worn out:

I [Jesus] pray … for those who will believe in me through their [the disciples'] message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (John 17:20-21).

The context of this passage, of course, is Jesus’ lengthy prayer for his disciples and the his mission through them.  A centerpiece of that prayer is his appeal for unity, because if we are going to anything significant for God’s kingdom, we have to it together.  And if the world is going to believe that Jesus Christ is God’s Son, they’ve got to see it in us.  How can Christ-followers love non-Christ-followers if Christ-followers aren’t even loving one another?

Furthermore, we’ve mistakenly viewed the commands in the New Testament as God’s personal expectations for each of us individually.  And they are.  But they’re so much more.  Our English translations don’t bring this out, but nearly every command in the New Testament is in the plural:  “You together …”  Take the armor of God, for instance, in Ephesians 6:10-13:

Finally, [you together] be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. [You together] put on the full armor of God, so that you [together] can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  For our [note the plural] struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Therefore [you together] put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you [together] may be able to stand your ground, and after you [together] have done everything, to stand.

Most churches live in silos of denominational specifics, and pastors are lonely souls.  Studies show that more often than not they have no close friends and are certainly without real relationship with their competitors … um … I mean … other pastors.

When I was senior pastor of Word of Grace, every day I drove by four churches on the way to and from my office.  I stopped at each church to get acquainted with the pastor.  I even attended a morning service at one of those churches.  Yet not one of them stopped by to see what I was doing.  No, I’m not hurt, because they didn’t know each other either!

Hey, somebody has to build bridges.  Somebody has to put differences aside.  Kind of like Jesus?

What can you do?  If you’re a pastor, knock on the church door down the street, talk to that other pastor, ask all about what he’s doing, and promise to pray for him.  Arrange a breakfast or lunch to get to know each other better–and to talk about ways you might serve your neighborhood, your local school, your city together.

If you are not a pastor, pray for your church and its leaders, for the walls of separation to come down.  Then ask your neighbors where they go to church.  Don’t try to convert them!  Instead, tell them you will be praying for them and their pastor.

Second ditch:  solidarity with those outside the church

For several years now I’ve been serving in and outside church circles.  A few years ago, I was appointed Chairman of Governor Janet Napolitano (now Secretary of Homeland Security).  I got pushback, because good Christians, at least the white kind, are supposed to be Republicans.

Yet I can see God working everywhere.  John Calvin called it “common grace.”  I know this is hard for some people to grasp, but even non-Christians are created in the image of God and have a basic sense of right and wrong.  I know, we disagree on some moral specifics, and you’ll find corruption in every human institution from banks to churches.  Yet it’s hard to find a person outside the church who doesn’t want to help others.

Because God created us, a concern for others burns in the heart of every human being.  Think about the extraordinary work, for example, of the New York City police and and fire departments on September 11, 2001.  We applaud their courage and compassion.  Heroes all, but certainly not all Christ-followers and students of the Bible.

A few years ago, at our Word of Grace (my former church) staff and board retreat, we invited four community leaders to help us help them.  The former vice-mayor of Mesa said something I’ll never forget:  “If you want to make a difference in our city, you will have to learn how to work with people you don’t agree with.”

People in city-reaching movements have a term for this:  “centered set.”  It means that we put a dot on the paper and say, “This is what I care about.  If you care about this, let’s work together.”

This is worlds different from the traditional approach of church people, who often have a  ”bounded set,” which means I draw a circle and say:  “This is what I believe.  If you believe what I believe, then we can work together.”

What can you do?  Go find some human service agency in your area and volunteer some of your time each month, to serve the underserved and to learn from those who have been in the trenches for years.  I did that for several years at a “secular” food bank.

Third ditch:  Prayer

I don’t understand it, but I believe it:  not much happens when God’s people don’t pray.  Certainly, God is sovereign, yet the Bible says as much about prayer and asking and seeking and knocking–and communing with God–as it does, I think, about anything else.  Why God waits for us to pray is a mystery, but we know from the Bible and our experience that passionate, prolonged prayer and fasting changes things.

What can you do?

Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.  Pray also for me (Ephesians 6:18-19).

NOTHING BUT GRACE LLC

Thanks to the excellent and generous work of attorney Robert Brown, Grace Unlimited Inc is now Nothing But Grace LLC.  What this means for me–and you–is that now we can receive tax-deductible donations directly to Grace Unlimited LLC.  We’re also set up to receive contributions through PayPal.  See http://v2.garykinnaman.com/?page_id=8.

PREACHING

I was invited to preach 36 Sundays last year, and 25 so far this year, 2012. I’m so grateful for these many opportunities to share God’s Word.

CONSULTING AND COACHING

Lee Wiggins, former senior pastor of a very large church here in Arizona:  “Words are not enough to express how great [we] are for your role in our lives these past six months.  From that initial call to the many that would follow, your encouragement meant the world to me.  I so appreciated how you were not only concerned about me, but also about my wife …. We have seen and heard of the unity of churches and pastors that has occurred because of your work.  Thank you!”

Hispanic ministries. I coach and work closely with my dear friend, Jose Gonzalez, who was the coordinator of Hispanic churches for the Luis Palau events.  He is creating a growing network of Hispanic pastors, something that has never really happened in our state.  As a result of my efforts, the Alberto Mottesi Evangelistic Associations (I am Chairman of the Board) has established an extension of their school of ministry here in Phoenix.  Grand Canyon U is giving them space for classes, and we have nearly 30 people enrolled, many of them pastors who have had very little formal training for ministry.

Living Streams Arcadia. A church plant of Living Streams (Mark Buckley), LSA is led by Lance Rauhoff.  Lance has asked me to preach for them a number of times, and we are meeting monthly to talk about church leadership and ministry.

Crossroads Church of the Nazarene, Chandler. Their pastor, David Sharpes, has asked me to meet with him monthly to develop a friendship of personal support in his life and ministry.

Vineyard Anthem. Senior pastor Terry Tarlton and I will be meeting every other month for coaching and support.  I will be preaching for him in August, as he takes a short sabbatical.

Vineyard North Phoenix. Senior pastor Brian Anderson has asked me to speak five consecutive Sunday, as he takes an extended sabbatical.

NETWORKING LEADERS

State and local government and human service agencies. I continue to lead the Arizona Council on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (www.godenriches.org … our Arizona state motto!) and serve as a member of Governor Brewer’s ArizonaSERVES Task Force (www.arizonaserves.gov), which came about as a direct result of a meeting I arrange with Governor Brewer and the pastors of the largest churches in Arizona.

One of the key issues of ArizonaSERVES is foster care, and Central Christian Church really stepped up.  Senior Pastor Cal Jernigan wrote to his congregation regarding their special Christmas Eve offering:  “The greatest portion of our offering will go to help local Christian organizations ministering the trenches within our state’s foster care system.  Arizona’s Governor, Jan Brewer, has personally asked us to step up and help facilitate the placing of foster children in safe homes and assisting those who step up by taking children to lovingly care for them.  So, this we will do.”  Central Christian gave $125,000 to this effort!

KPXQ 1360. So many things are coming together!  Jim Ryan, the station manager for KPXQ, and one of their key people, Diane Zapponi, have invited me to work with them for our mutual dream:  to bring together pastors and other Christian leaders in the Valley, to build unity and serve our communities together. As a part of my work with the station, they’ve asked me to be a frequent co-host with Tom Brown on his daily show, Koinonia.

Arizona Dept of Economic Security (DES). God has given me a wonderful relationship with the new director, Clarence Carter, who comes to our state from Washington DC, where he was Director of Human Services.  Before that, he worked for President Bush as the director of the national food stamp program. A Christ-follower, he has a passion for getting connected with the faith community, and I’ve had the opportunity to connect him with key Christian leaders.

Pinnacle Forum. The new national CEO of Pinnacle Forum, Steve Fedyski, and I have been working together on a number of efforts.  Steve has become a good and helpful friend.  Pinnacle Forum was started by Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ and Jerry Colangelo:  www.pinnacleforum.com.  Recently, I was invited to help lead Mr. Colangelo’s forum.

Local Outreach Leaders.My former missions pastor at Word of Grace and good friend Karl Mueller and others are helping me create relational, collaborative networks of local church, local outreach leaders across Maricopa County.  I’ve worked hard to get pastors together, especially the leaders of large churches.  I felt God spoke to me that the next step was to connect the leaders of community ministry in key churches around the Valley.

Denominational Leaders. Well, I did it again!  I got some folks together who never meet, don’t even know each other–but should!  In January, we had our first ever meeting of evangelical denominational state leaders:  Assembles of God, Southern Baptist, Conservative Baptist, Converge (Baptist General Conference), Church of God (Anderson), Nazarene, Vineyard, and Foursquare.  Whew!  Steve Harris, State Superintendent of the Assemblies of God hosted our luncheon, and the guys agree to meet quarterly.  This has never happened in our state!

Arizona Coalition for Military Families. As if I don’t have enough to do, I’m going to do whatever I can to encourage churches to support veterans and military families.  I’ll be working closely with www.arizonacoalition.org.  As you probably know, our youngest son is in the Navy.  He has a “safe” job, but we’ve seen how military life is a huge challenge for the serviceperson’s family.

No, I’m not retired!

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