The Lost Sheep: Running for His Life

By David Ryser

I was hanging out with Cliff, a former student of mine who ministers powerfully in the country of Uganda.  He was regaling me with tales of his adventures while preaching and demonstrating the Kingdom of God in a culture quite different from our own.  He noted that the culture in Uganda is similar in many ways to the culture in which Jesus ministered during His time on earth.  As a result of Cliff’s exposure to this culture, the preaching, teaching, and parables of Jesus have been cast in a fresh light for him.  As an example, he cited the Parable of the Lost Sheep recorded in Luke 15:3-6.

As we talked about it, I realized this may be one of the most preached--and least understood--of Jesus’ parables.

Part of our difficulty interpreting this parable comes from our misunderstanding of the context in which Jesus spoke it.  Whom was Jesus talking to, and what was going on at the time?  We must interpret what He said in light of the situation that prompted Him to speak.  Luke 15:1, 2 tells us that Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees and scribes because they were criticizing His ministry over the fact that the spiritual riff-raff (tax collectors and sinners) were being drawn to Him in order to hear Him.

This parable had one important thing in common with the rest of Jesus’ ministry of preaching and teaching:  He spoke to the people who were there (Luke 15:3).  I have searched the Gospels and have discovered that Jesus never preached to people who were not present.  He never preached to, or even about, the Romans or Greeks, for example.  If our preaching follows the pattern of Jesus, we will preach to the people in front of us. 

This may seem self-evident to us until we realize that a great deal of the preaching in our churches is directed at people who are not there (unless your church is filled with homosexuals, abortionists, politicians, and other assorted "miscreants" whom we blame for all of the world’s problems).

So what did Jesus have to say to the religious people who were offended that the “bad people” were coming to Him and entering into the Kingdom of God?

First, Jesus established the worth of the people whom the Pharisees and scribes considered to be worthless (Luke 15:4a).  He tells of a man who has 100 sheep, and one of the sheep has wandered off.  Why is this such a big deal?  The man still has 99 sheep left.

So why all the fuss over one sheep?

It may help to know that in Jesus’ day, a man was considered rich and successful if he had 100 sheep.  Any less, even 99, placed the man in a lower class of wealth and achievement in the eyes of the community.  So the one sheep is of great value relative to the rest of the flock because without him the total value of the flock is significantly diminished.  Jesus’ first lesson to the Pharisees and scribes:  These people you consider to be worthless have great value both to God and to you.

Second, Jesus notes where the flock is when the lost sheep wanders off.  And He does this in a way that gets their attention by saying, “What man of you…does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness…?” (Luke 15:4).  In fact, no one would leave 99 sheep in the wilderness.  The wilderness--by definition--is a place without food, without water, and full of predators.  And what are these sheep doing in the wilderness in the first place?

No shepherd in his right mind would take sheep into the wilderness to feed and water them; rather, he would seek out a lush pasture and an ample water supply for them.

So why were the 100 sheep in the wilderness?  For the same reason that the Pharisees and scribes were wasting away in their religion rather than feasting and drinking from the life and presence of God available in Jesus (John 6:48-58, among many others).

But not everyone is content to suffer spiritual hunger and thirst with the rest of the religious crowd.

Third, so now we know why the one sheep had wandered off.  He was hungry, he was thirsty, and his situation was not getting any better by hungering and thirsting along with the other 99 sheep.  He had gone to search for food and water.

He was running for his life!

You see, the lost sheep was lost only in the sense that he had not found what he was looking for.  He didn’t know where to find food and water, but he knew for sure that neither was to be found where the other 99 sheep were.  (Does this sound like dead and dry religion?)  He was searching for food and water, and he was looking for the shepherd, but he didn’t know where to find them.

In other words, he was in the wrong place for the right reason.

The shepherd, meanwhile, is searching for his lost sheep (he already knows where the other 99 are).  When the shepherd comes on the scene, the sheep does not resist him.  The sheep is not running from the shepherd; he is running from the dire situation he was in when he was with the rest of the flock.  The shepherd picks up the sheep, puts him on his shoulders, and carries him out of his wanderings (Luke 15:5).

At this point, we drift away from the scriptures and assume the shepherd carried the sheep back to the flock along with a stern admonition not to wander off anymore.  We even have a hymn we sing during “revival” meetings to welcome the lost sheep back into the fold.  The problem with this view--and the song--is that the shepherd did not take the formerly lost sheep back to the others.  The shepherd took the sheep to His home where there is great rejoicing over the sheep (Luke 15:6).

Then Jesus springs the trap on the Pharisees and scribes.  He concludes the parable by saying there is more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over 99 who have no need of repentance (Luke 15:7).  The Pharisees and scribes are caught because they know that no one is without need of repentance.  Their eyes are immediately opened to their spiritual condition (at least in the opinion of Jesus).

And they now have a choice to make.

The Pharisees and scribes, and their ilk, are the 99 sheep in the wilderness.  The tax collectors and sinners are the lost sheep.  Jesus is the shepherd.  The flock was hungering and thirsting in the wilderness of dead, dry religion.  The tax collectors and sinners had left the religious system to seek life elsewhere.  In the midst of their wanderings, Jesus came on the scene.  They recognized He was what they had been looking for.

He gathers them up and takes them home; they enter into His Kingdom where they are fed, watered, and cared for.

And the other 99?  What about the religious people?  They are still in the wilderness starving and thirsting to death spiritually.  They don’t even know they’re lost.  How can they be lost?  They’re together.

And they will die together unless they follow the Good Shepherd out of the spiritual wasteland of dead, dry religion and into the Kingdom of God.

What will they do?  Jesus has brought them to a point of decision.  Whatever they chose, their decision was made long ago. What about us?  Are we starving and thirsting in a religious system that produces only physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual sickness and death?

What will we choose?

We can stay where we are and have what we have always had; or we can run for our lives into the arms of our Shepherd and allow Him to carry us home.

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

Mary had a Little Lamb: He Didn't Play Well with the Other Sheep

By David Ryser

I was visiting a small-town Pentecostal church on a Sunday morning, and I was trapped in worship hell.  I was convinced that if this song service went on much longer, my head would explode.  The words of the songs were a disgrace; I was embarrassed to offer them up to God.  The singing was lackluster and totally passionless.  I promised God that if He would have mercy upon me and put an end to this agony, I’d do anything--I’d even join a convent and become a nun.

I had no idea that I was mere moments away from having a serious case of theological disconnect.

At the end of the worship time (yes, the worship service finally came to an end; and no, I did not become a nun), the pastor got up before the small congregation and uttered three words I never thought I’d hear in that place:  “God is here.”  I wanted to shout “Where?” and look around to find Him.  I know when the presence of God is in manifestation; not because I am so spiritual, but because I have experienced it enough to know when He is present and when He is not.  The pastor continued, “God is here because we are in unity.”  Now my head was spinning because these people were indeed in unity.  I had observed them before the service, and I would get another opportunity to watch them at lunch.  They loved each other, and there was no strife among them.

The pastor continued, “Where the people of God are in unity, God is in their midst.”

I thought about what this pastor had said for the next two weeks.  I could not deny that the people of his church were in unity.  And God blesses unity in His Church with His presence, doesn’t He?  So why wasn’t He in that service?  (He wasn’t in the evening service, either.  That service was even worse than the morning service.)  I had a serious case of spiritual vertigo from thinking about this, and I needed an answer to my questions.

Finally God spoke one day while I was worshiping Him and thinking about the relationship between unity among His people and the manifestation of His presence in their midst.  He spoke into my heart and said, “They were in unity at Laodicea, too.”

And so they were.  The whole church at Laodicea was lukewarm toward God and in danger of being vomited out of Jesus’ mouth (Revelation 3:15, 16).

I was not accustomed to thinking of unity in a negative way.  The pastor of every church I had ever attended taught the virtues of unity among God’s people and warned against disunity, quoting verses such as Romans 16:17 and Titus 3:10.  Disunity was a sign that God was not present in the church.  I was taught that Jesus always brought unity wherever He was.

Did He?

Not according to the Bible.  In Matthew 10:34, Jesus said He did not come to bring peace to the earth, but rather a sword.  And in the following verses (35-37), He described the kind of division He would bring even within families.  According to Luke 4:16-29, Jesus couldn’t even go to church (ok, synagogue) without stirring people up so badly that they wanted to kill Him.  So which is it?  Does Jesus cause unity or disunity?

The answer is, “Yes!”

You see, unity among people is a powerful thing.  And this unity is powerful whether people are unified for good and righteous purposes or with harmful and evil intentions.  Examples of negative unity abound in the Bible.  The case of Laodicea was mentioned earlier.  The people of Sodom and Gomorrah were unified in their sin.  The people of Noah’s day were united in their wickedness.  The inhabitants of the earth got together for a building project at Babel.  Even old enemies, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, put aside their differences long enough to murder Jesus.

God’s reaction to these instances of unity was varied (vomiting, fire & brimstone, a flood, confusion & dispersion, and etc.), but always disapproving.

When Jesus came to the earth, He was sent specifically to the people of God--the Jews.  He challenged the community of faith to love and obey God with pure hearts.  He exposed their hypocrisy, their sin, and their failure to honor God in their worship and in their lives.  He contended with their religious leaders.  At times this conflict would even degenerate into name calling (Matthew 23:15; Matthew 23:24; Matthew 23:33--among others).  Jesus stirred up controversy wherever He went, but only among those whose hearts were far from God.  Others came to Him with open hearts, received His ministry with joy, and were gathered into the Kingdom of God.

It was not the sinners, but the religious people who tended to reject Him.

It complicates matters that religion plays by its own set of rules.  In Luke 13:10-17, Jesus heals a woman in church, and the leader objects because Jesus healed on the Sabbath.  Where in the Bible is healing on the Sabbath forbidden?  Jesus illustrates the hypocrisy of religion by noting they are unable to rejoice at the mighty working of God because of their religious rules.  He also points out that everyone in the place worked on the Sabbath by tending to their donkeys.

(Proving, among other things, that not all of the asses in town lived in barns.).

Not that religion has any problems with violating Scripture…so long as it doesn’t break the religious rules.  When Jesus makes a mess in the foyer of the Temple (where the books, tapes, and other religious paraphernalia are sold to this day), He quotes the Bible as justification for His actions (Matthew 21:12, 13).  The people who needed ministry began to come and receive help (Matthew 21:14), but the religious leaders reacted by plotting to kill Jesus (Mark 11:18).

A true move of God always causes consternation among the religious.

Throughout the Book of Acts, the preaching of the Gospel was often met with hostility and persecution.  In the vast majority of these cases, this opposition was instigated by religious people.  Even church history teaches us that there is no such thing as a move of God that does not stir up controversy and division.  No spiritual awakening, revival, or renewal movement has been wildly welcomed by the current religious system.  Furthermore, those who were touched by the last move of God were usually the ones who most strongly opposed the next move of God.  (For example, Pentecostals were the strongest opponents of the Charismatic Movement, even though this outpouring was what Pentecostals had said the entire Church needed.)

Are we supposed to stop loving God and embracing what He is doing on the earth simply because some church people don’t like it and strive against it?

The good news is that unity among God’s people has the potential to work just as powerfully in a positive way.  When believers unify in love for God, love for one another, worship of God in spirit and in truth, and for the advancement of the Kingdom of God; God manifests Himself powerfully in their midst and dwells among them.

This occurs repeatedly throughout the Bible and church History.

I invite you to take another look at the scriptures that discourage disunity and strife in the church.  I believe you will find these scriptures are always in the context of a faith community where people love God and are worshiping and serving Him with sincere hearts.

Unity among believers should facilitate the life and work of God in the church, not serve as a cover for lukewarmness and sin in the members and leaders.

Of course, no church is perfect.  If God has planted you in a church, love Him with all of your heart and pour out His love on His people.  (Loving Jesus is a virus best spread by contact.)  Be a blessing to your pastor and other leaders.  Support them, love them, and pray for them.

If there is any division in your church, let it be caused by God showing up and overturning the spiritual tables in the place.

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

Ruth's Question: "What are they doing for God?"

By David Ryser

Some time ago, my wife and I were at the house of some friends just hanging out with them and enjoying them.  While there, we met Ruth and her husband who are wonderful Christian people who love God with all their heart.  As Christian people will do when meeting for the first time, we got to know one another by sharing about our faith journey and our lives in general.  The next day, Ruth was talking with one of our hosts and asked concerning my wife and I, “What are they doing for God?”

This is a common question in Christian circles, but it got me to thinking about the relationship between doing and being.

Ruth and her husband express their faith publicly/corporately in a traditional church setting.  By traditional I mean they go to a church building where there is a worship service with singing and preaching.  An offering is taken.  Christian education is provided at various age and interest levels, and worship services appropriate for different ages are conducted simultaneously with the main service.  My wife and I do not currently express our faith publicly/corporately in a traditional church setting; thus, Ruth’s genuine curiosity about what we are doing for God.

The question--and its context--reveals a lot about how we view our relationship with, and our service to, God.  My first thought when considering the question “What are they doing for God?” was to wonder just what it is that God can’t do and thus needs me to do it for Him.  I couldn’t think of anything.  I then began to ponder the mountain of scripture verses that command Christians to do things for God.  There aren’t any.  There are, however, several verses that speak of what God does through us.

This set me to thinking about wineglasses.

According to the Bible, wine is a gift from God given to mankind to gladden the heart.  But even the best wine is of little practical use unless some way is provided to transport the wine from the container to my lips.  This is where the wineglass comes into the picture.  Typically the wine is poured from the bottle into the wineglass, and then it is taken to the person who will consume the wine.  When someone tastes fine wine, the wine is praised--the glass is not.  I am not the wine (a common biblical metaphor for the presence, love, and power of God); I am only the glass.

I am only a vessel used to transport the wine.  I don’t do anything for the wine except carry it.

Does the wineglass matter at all?  Sure it does, but not as much as we’d like to think it does.  Have you ever been handed a glass of water, sipped the water, and then made a face and declared, “This water tastes terrible”?  We all know what a person means when they say, “This water tastes terrible,” but the statement itself is absurd.  Water does not taste terrible.  Nor does water taste good.  Water has no taste.  Water is tasteless.  When we say the water tastes terrible, what do we taste?  We taste the impurities in the water.  Assuming that the water is clean, these impurities come from the glass.  Even though the water is pure, the water is disparaged because of the uncleanness of the glass.

Most non-Christians I know do not hate God.  How can they hate Him?  They don’t even know Him.  Their perception of God is formed by observing and listening to those who claim to be God’s children.  They suppose we carry the presence of God just as we carry the DNA of our earthly parents.  They assume there is a family resemblance between God and His children.

They think God looks and act like us.

The story is told of a Hindu leader who came to the conclusion that his people were oppressed by the caste system, and the solution to this problem was for him and the people to convert from Hinduism.  He began to research the religions of the world to choose one to embrace.  Concerning Christianity, he wrote that when he considered the lives of Jesus and the apostles, he was convinced he and his people must become Christians; however, when he considered the lives of those he knew who called themselves Christians, he was equally convinced he and his people must not become Christians.

He eventually converted to Islam, and 2,000,000 people followed him.

The apostle Paul often implores Christians to live godly lives.  He commands them not to sin; but rather, he directs them to walk in purity, holiness, and love toward others.  He never tells them to do this in order to earn God’s blessings or to avoid hell. He always commands them to do this in order to glorify God and honor His name.  He writes that the name of Jesus is blasphemed by unbelievers because of the behavior of those who call themselves His children.

Too many people do not even want to know God because we have misrepresented Him in the world by our words and conduct.

This brings me back to Ruth’s question.  What do I do for God?  Nothing.  I am only a vessel that carries the life and love of God to people who are in desperate need of both.  The issue is not so much what I do for Him as it is what He does through me.  My job is to carry the wine and make sure the glass is clean (Matthew 23:25, 26).  I carry His wine with me wherever I go and share it with anyone who wants a drink.  Sometimes there are great miracles performed along the way, but typically I simply share a word of encouragement or just brag on God.  Sometimes I write an article.  More than a few times, God has told me to make someone laugh.

That sounds silly, but people pay thousands of comedians millions of dollars to make them laugh.  The Bible says that laughter is heart medicine.  I may not be a great comedian, but I work for free.

Because it is my heart’s desire to glorify God and effectively minister His Kingdom to people, I am far more concerned with being rather than doing.  This bothers many Christians because they think I’m advocating some sort of spiritual navel-gazing that has no practical value in the work of proclaiming and demonstrating the Kingdom of God.  I have discovered, however, that the effectiveness of what I do comes out of what I am.  I can do the works of God and yet end up doing more damage to His Kingdom than if I’d done nothing at all (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

I cannot make His pure wine taste any better; I’m content if I just don’t make it taste nasty because of my impurity.

It is the life of Christ living in us and flowing out of us (John 7:38, 39) that brings life, healing, and deliverance to people.  Before we go and pour out this wine on others, we might want to take a sip ourselves and test to see if we are tainting it in any way.  If the wine tastes bad, it’s not because the wine is bad.  The glass is dirty.  Am I saying we need to be perfect before we can minister to others?  No, but if the life of Christ dwells in us and is regenerating us, shouldn’t we at least be getting better?

And what about Matthew 7:3-5?

Cleaning the glass is a painful, and an oftentimes unpleasant, process--and the Holy Spirit is a no-nonsense glass inspector.  If we have not yet allowed God to clean our glass, there is no better time to begin than right now.  Let’s get our glass clean and then pour out the wine of God that gives life and refreshment to all who will drink of it.

Then we will be living and demonstrating the Gospel…and not just proclaiming it.

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

Life vs. Animation: Are You Living a Cartoon?

By David Ryser

I grew up watching cartoons on television.  My favorites were the Warner Brothers cartoons with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, the Roadrunner, Wile E. Coyote, and all the others.  These cartoons provided me with hours of entertainment and lots of laughs.  They still do.  They also fed me some benign, and even amusing, misinformation along the way (I was an adult before I knew the Scarlet Pumpernickel was actually the Scarlet Pimpernel).  As engaged as I was in watching these cartoons, I never believed--even at a very young age--that cartoon characters were alive.

I never confused animation with life until I became a Christian.

I had just come out of what I thought was a great worship service.  The music was upbeat, and the congregation was energetic and demonstrative in worship.  These are good things, and I am in favor of them.  Sometime after the service, a young man in the church (who sees into the spirit more than he lets on) described the scene he saw during the worship time in words I will never forget.  He said, “As the people were worshiping, I saw empty shells jumping up and down.”

Hearing something like that will make a guy think, and I’ve thought about what he said for some time now.

Animation is not life.  Just because something (or someone) moves, talks, acts, and mimics the other attributes of living does not mean life is present.  In the Garden of Eden, God told Adam he would “surely die” if he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17).  “Surely die” in the Hebrew text is a repetition of the word “die” (“die, die”) which intensifies what is being said.  God wanted Adam to know He wasn’t kidding about this, and told him he would die immediately upon eating the fruit, not die slowly over time.  Adam ate.  Adam died.  Adam continued to walk, talk, breathe, eat, sleep, work, build, procreate, etc.  But he was dead.

Adam went from being a “living soul” to being merely animated--a human cartoon character.

In numerous places in the New Testament, especially in the epistles of Paul, a person who is outside of Christ is described as dead (Ephesians 2:1, 5 and Colossians 2:13, among others).  This person may show all the signs of life, and be biologically alive, but he/she is nothing more than a spiritual cartoon.  And religion won’t make a person alive.  Jesus was talking to God’s people (not to the Romans or the other Gentiles) when He said He had come to give them life (John 10:10).

We need to understand there is no life outside of Christ’s life in us.  Paul was not using a figure of speech when he said he had died and that “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the Son of God’s faith (literal translation) who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:19, 20; italics added).  All people, no matter what they may call themselves, are dead outside of Christ.  There are only two kinds of people on the earth:  those who are dead and those who are alive through the life of Christ that was planted in them expressing itself through them.  Does that sound weird?  What can I say?

Blame the Bible and take it up with the Author.  I didn’t write it.

Life in Christ involves more than coming to a knowledge of Jesus, getting our theology straight, and agreeing with a creed or a doctrinal statement.  The devil knows all of these things and it doesn’t do him any good (James 2:19).  We must encounter the Lord of Life and be “born again” into newness of life.  And when did “born again” become synonymous with “new and improved” anyhow?  If we are in Christ we are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), not a renovated form of the old creation.  If you give a pig a bath, it’s still a pig (and given half a chance, it will act like it).  We can clean up Adam (the flesh, our sin nature), but it’s still Adam.  And Adam is dead.  Dead people don’t need a bath (no matter how badly they stink); they need a resurrection.

Once we have been made alive, then we can allow His life and light to grow in us…and displace the death and darkness of our old nature.

I wish I had known this truth when I was a pastor.  I spent 14 years trying to help people to change.  They wanted very much to change and become more like Jesus.  So did I.  The problem is that people cannot change; we’re simply not hardwired to change.  If we are dead outside of Christ, we cannot change because dead people don’t change (ok, they rot/decay, but their behavior doesn’t improve).  If we are alive in Christ we still cannot change because the life of Christ is our source of life, and He doesn’t change (Hebrews 13:8).

Nowhere in the Bible are we commanded to change--because it’s impossible.  We are, however, told that we can be transformed by the renewing life of Christ in us working from the inside-out to produce a harvest of godliness in our attitudes and behavior (Romans 12:2).  The Greek word for “transform” is μεταμορφοω.  We get our word “metamorphosis” from this word.  It means to be transformed from one state (in this case, the state of death) to a new state (becoming alive) by another, more powerful, form of life forcing its way from the inside to the outside.  The life of Christ is in us if we are genuinely born again.  This life has the ability to transform us and manifest itself in our behavior...if we cooperate with it.

So how do we work with God to produce this transformation in our lives?  The simple, not to be confused with easy, answer to this question is that we come into intimate relationship with Jesus.  Let me be clear:  I am not talking about praying a canned prayer, becoming a churchgoer, and walking in a superficial affiliation with Jesus; I’m talking about a living, vibrant, personal, passionate, and intimate relationship with Jesus.  We need to allow Him, through the Holy Spirit, to speak to us (through the scriptures and directly) and shine His light into our lives.  This takes courage because, if you are like me, you won’t very much like a great deal of what you will hear and see.

Once we become God’s home (1 Corinthians 6:19), then we can talk about doing a housecleaning.  The light of God will shine into the dark places and reveal the condition of our hearts--and then it is decision time.  It’s like when you turn on a light in a room of your home and see that the room is a mess.  We can do one of two things at this point:  we can turn out the light and walk away while trying to forget what we just saw, or we can choose to invite God in to clean up the place.

We have the Holy Spirit, our Helper, to do all the heavy lifting and deep cleaning with us.

Do not be fooled by appearances.  We are not alive because we appear to be alive.  And we are not alive because we are more animated than our neighbor.  Such comparison is not a good idea (2 Corinthians 10:12b).  We are alive only because we are in relationship with God through Jesus Christ whose life indwells us in the Person of the Holy Spirit.

If we call ourselves Christians, but are living outside of Christ, we are no more alive than the Jews of Jesus’ day who refused to come to Him so He could give them life (John 5:39, 40).

Be brave.  Dare to ask yourself the tough question, “Am I alive in Christ, or am I a living cartoon?”  I will believe you no matter how you answer this question, but I’m not the one you have to convince.

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

Illegal Procedure: Ministering God's Power Illegitimately

By David Ryser

Many years ago in a place far away, I attended a Bible College affiliated with a major Pentecostal denomination.  One day in class we considered a story from the early days of Pentecostalism.  The story and its lessons have helped me since then to navigate the sometimes treacherous waters of the religion business.

In the early days of the Pentecostal Movement, things were not as organized as they are today.  People all over the world had been impacted by this move of God, and they went everywhere preaching the message that God was alive and manifesting Himself in miraculous ways.  These itinerant preachers would often be invited to speak in churches without being scrutinized because no formal credentialing process yet existed within Pentecostalism for vetting these preachers.  Churches that had been touched by what God was doing would welcome those ministers because they wanted to flow with the Spirit and not miss what God was doing.

One day, two men claiming to be Pentecostal preachers showed up at a church and were invited to preach at the evening service.  That night they declared the Word of God with power.  The people were deeply touched by their preaching.  Some responded to the call for salvation.  There were healings and other manifestations of God’s power.  God was in the house, and the service bore all the evidences of a typical Pentecostal meeting.

During the service, two men wearing suits entered the church and stood near the back door of the sanctuary.  This was not uncommon in those early days.  People would come to the church out of curiosity or to mock the “holy rollers” usually preferring to stay in the back of the church or even stand outside and look through the open windows to watch the goings-on.  Many times even the mockers would be touched by the presence and power of God, and they would give their lives to Jesus and/or be otherwise touched by the power of God.  So no one paid particular attention to the two well-dressed men standing at the back of the church--until the end of the service.

After the service had ended, the two men came to the front of the church, produced badges, and placed the “preachers” under arrest.  The men in suits were Federal Marshals.  The “preachers” were horse thieves.  Though they’d obviously been exposed to church at some time in their lives, neither of the men who had so powerfully ministered the Word of God that night was a Christian.

How could this be?  How could men who were not Christians (and were criminals besides) minister in the power of God?  Were those who had come forward for salvation really saved?  Were those who had been healed really healed?  By whose power?  Had God truly been present in the meeting and done all of these wonderful things?  Was the whole thing a fake?

In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus speaks of people coming before Him at the Judgment desiring to enter into His eternal Kingdom based upon the mighty works they had performed in His name.  He does not contradict their claim to having done these works, nor does He dispute that these mighty works--clearly the works of God--had been done in His name.  He refuses them entry into His Kingdom because “I never knew you.”  He then sends them out of His presence and calls them “workers of iniquity.”  The word “iniquity” is better translated “lawlessness” and tells us these people had done the works of God, by the power of God in the name of Jesus, illegally/illegitimately.

What?  Why would God allow people to do His works by His power and in His name, illegally?  Why would He use people He doesn’t even know to minister His power?  There are at least three reasons He would do this.  Let’s consider them.

First, God honors His Word (Psalms 138:2; Jeremiah 1:12; Ezekiel 12:25, among others).  When the Bible is preached, the words that are proclaimed are God’s words.  God honors His words and His promises regardless of who proclaims them.  If He does not act in response to the preaching of His Word, then His Word will be dishonored.  God does not dishonor His Word.  If a merchant distributes coupons for a discount on a product, he is bound to honor that coupon even if it is redeemed by a criminal.  The issue is not who redeemed the coupon; the issue is whether the coupon is valid.

The Word of God is valid; it is true no matter who preaches it, and God has bound Himself to honor it lest it be dishonored/worthless.

Second, and related to the first, God honors His name (For example, John 12:28: Exodus 32:11, 12; Numbers 14:11-21).  When He says something, or makes a promise, He is honor bound to perform it.  If God does not keep His word and His promises, what does that say about Him?  What does it say about His character?  How could anyone trust Him?  We do not trust people who do not keep their word or their promises.  Why would we trust a God who does not keep His word or promises?  We certainly would not worship such a God; He would be dishonored in our eyes.  God performs mighty works that are done in His name because His honor and reputation are on the line when His name is invoked.  Again, this has nothing to do with the person who is invoking His name.

Third, God honors the faith of those who believe in Him (Examples abound in both the Old and New Testaments).  When the Word of God goes forth and His name is invoked, people put their trust in Him.  They believe what His Word says and respond in faith to receive what is spoken or ministered.  God moves in response to their faith and performs what He has promised.  Once again, the issue is not the person preaching or ministering God’s power.  Imagine if God could not move unless the preacher was as pure as the driven snow.  Would God ever move?

Would it be better if the person ministering the power of God was a true, sincere man or woman of God?  Of course it would.  Many people have been hurt and confused because a mighty move of God was ministered by someone who turned out to be deeply flawed--or worse, a fraud.  This is not a new thing.  This problem, in one form or another, has been going on in the Church at least since the time of Paul.  It would be worth our time to read Philippians 1:12-18 and consider the apostle’s godly response to this problem.  This sort of thing has happened before, and it will happen again.  If it has happened to you, there is no biblical reason to question the genuineness of what you have experienced of God and received from God because of another person’s failings.  How could you have known?  We do not see into the hearts of others, and God almost never reveals the hearts of others to us.

Whatever you experienced and received, it was God.  Receive it and enjoy it with gratitude toward the loving Father who gave it to you.  God will judge the rest.

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

Hearing and Seeing: A Key to God's Power

By David Ryser

I was recently speaking with Ken--a friend of mine who pastors a wonderful church in western Kansas.  He has been considering what we commonly call the Lord’s Prayer.  The disciples of Jesus came to Him one day asking Him to teach them how to pray (Luke 11:1).  Ken’s question was, “Why did Jesus’ disciples ask Him to teach them how to pray?  Why didn’t they ask Him how to do miracles, perform healings, or raise the dead?”  (As I thought about it after our conversation, I realized that this was the only time Jesus’ disciples ever asked Him to teach them to do anything.)  As Ken and I pondered the possible answer to his question, I believe we may have gained some insight into something I’ve been thinking about for a while now.

I’ve been receiving some e-mails lately about this “loving Jesus stuff” from sincere Christians who are genuinely concerned the current emphasis upon intimacy with God will deteriorate into some form of spiritual navel-gazing that might hinder the Church from doing what it has been called to do; namely, preach and teach the Gospel with power (including signs & wonders) and disciple the nations.  They worry that too much time spent just being in God’s presence will prevent the Church from doing her assigned task.  (Personally, I’d like to see our churches dump the dog-and-pony shows we call worship services, reconnect with God, become vibrant communities of faith, and then begin to minister the Kingdom of God with power out in the world.)  Their concern is legitimate and is deserving of a thoughtful, biblical response.

How does a personal, intimate relationship with God tie into our commission to proclaim and demonstrate the Kingdom of God on the earth?

In John 14:12, Jesus tells His disciples that those who believe in Him will do the works He did--and even greater works.  Where’s our power to do this going to come from?  Probably it’s going to come from the same place Jesus’ power came from.  Luke 4:18, 19 tells us that His power to proclaim and demonstrate the Kingdom of God came from being anointed by the Holy Spirit.  That’s great news for us because we also are anointed by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8).  So now we know where Jesus’ power came from, and where our power comes from, but how do we exercise this power?  How did Jesus exercise His power?

Jesus summed up His ministry of proclaiming and demonstrating the Kingdom of God by telling us that He only said what He heard the Father saying (John 12:50b, among others) and only did what He saw the Father doing (John 5:19, for example).  This is also great news for us because we are told that the Holy Spirit will tell us what God is saying and show us what God is doing (John 16:13-15, and numerous examples in the book of Acts).  This is where intimacy with God comes into the equation.

I believe Jesus uses the picture of hearing and seeing intentionally because hearing and seeing have one thing in common:  in order to hear or to see someone, a person must be in close proximity to the one speaking and doing--we must be in the neighborhood.  Likewise, we must be close to God in order to hear what He is saying and see what He is doing.  If we are not close enough to hear God, how can we know what He is saying?  And if we don’t know what He is saying, how can we proclaim His words?  And if we are not proclaiming His words, then what are we proclaiming/preaching?

The same goes for what He is doing.  If we are not close enough to see God, how can we know what He is doing?  And if we don’t know what He is doing, how can we do what He wants us to do (or how He wants us to do it)?  And if we are not doing what He wants us to do, then what are we doing?

And could this explain, at least in part, the “power outage” in our churches?

(“Read the Bible,” some might say in answer to these questions.  Good advice.  Does your Bible tell you exactly what to say and do when a scared, tearful friend tells you she has been diagnosed with breast cancer?  Because mine certainly doesn’t.)

You see, being and doing are not mutually exclusive; they are inexorably linked.  What we do comes out of what we are (1Corinthians 13:1-3, and others too numerous to mention).  And what we are comes out of Whom we are with.  And if we are not careful, we will find ourselves among the poor souls Jesus talks about in Matthew 7:21-23.  These people are petitioning Jesus for admittance into His eternal Kingdom on the basis that they did the works of God, by the power of God, through the name of Jesus--and Jesus does not contradict them.  He refuses them entry into His Kingdom, however, based upon a lack of relationship.  He says to them, “I never (the Greek is very clear here) knew you.”  The word for “knew” is a past tense form of the Greek word γινωσκω.  This word means “to know by experience” and is used in Matthew 1:25, and other places in the New Testament, to describe the sexual relationship between a man and his wife (and other intimate relationships as well).  So we could translate what Jesus is saying to these people as “I was never intimate with you.”  He goes on to command them to depart from Him and calls them “workers of iniquity” “(iniquity” means lawlessness or illegality).

What gives here?  How can people whom Jesus does not know do the works of God, in the power of God, through the name of Jesus?  Why would God allow that?  I can think of at least three reasons off the top of my head, but this is another discussion for another time.  Why are they declared to be lawless/illegal?  Jesus calls them this, not because of what they did; He calls them this because of where they were when they did those works.  He was not in intimate relationship with them; and, by extension, neither were they with Him.  How could they legitimately speak the words of God and do the works of God if they were not close enough to either hear what He was saying or see what He was doing?

These people, by whatever means they were doing these mighty works (perhaps they had read the Book without meeting/knowing the Author), were operating in the things of God while being outside of connection with God; thus, they were operating illegally.

This brings us back to Ken’s question.  Why did the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray instead of how to minister in God’s power?  And remember, they had just returned from a trip where they had, in fact, preached the Kingdom of God with healings, deliverances, and other signs & wonders accompanying their proclamation (Luke 10:1-17); so why did they now want to be taught how to pray?  I suspect their ministry trip had shown to them the power they could walk in by virtue of the fact that they had been with Jesus and had been commissioned by Him.  They had heard the words of Jesus, and they had seen the works of Jesus, for as long as they had walked with Him (cf. Acts 4:13--the Sanhedrin recognized the apostles had been with Jesus).  When He sent them out, they simply spoke what they had heard Him say and did what they had seen Him do.  And when they expressed their excitement over what had happened through their ministry, Jesus brought them back to the foundation of their relationship with God (Luke 10:18-20).

The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray because they finally realized that the things Jesus spoke and did were revealed to Him during the times He was intimate with the Father in prayer.  Jesus was a Man of prayer:  He often prayed, sometimes prayed all night, and frequently sought to pray even more than the demands of His ministry would allow.  And Jesus’ example of intimate prayer influenced His disciples long after He ascended into heaven (Acts 6:4)  They knew that if they were going to continue to speak and act as Jesus did, they would have to be where Jesus had been--close enough to the Father to hear what He was saying and see what He was doing.

When the disciples asked Jesus to “Teach us to pray” they really meant, “Teach us how to be intimate with the Father.”

A final word of caution concerning the motives of our hearts in this matter:  There is power in intimacy with God, but intimacy with God for the purpose of getting power is not true intimacy (it is more like spiritual prostitution).  We should not love God in order to get His power; it is His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom, and its power, because we love Him.

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

"Would You Like to Dance?": Another Question that Changed My Life

By David Ryser

This life is a dance, not a battle. (Kate Constable)

I was minding my own business, teaching at a school of ministry.  The students were hungry for God, loved Jesus with pure hearts, and were eager for the Word and the Presence of God.  In order to be able to “feed” them properly with the instruction and demonstration of the Kingdom of God, I would arrive early (1½ to 2 hours early), put on worship music, and bask in the presence of God.  By the time class began, both I and the atmosphere in the classroom were prepared for the students and for anything God wanted to teach and/or do that day.  As the class session progressed, the spiritual hunger of the students would place a demand upon the anointing and presence of God until, at the end of each class, I felt like a milk cow who had just fed 23 calves.  I was drained!  If I didn’t fill back up spiritually, the next day’s “nursing” was going to be painful (please don’t make me explain this metaphor).  I needed to come up with a plan of action to refill and recharge between class days, and the little time I spent with God in the mornings was not going to be enough.

Then I hit upon a plan--a plan born more out of desperation and self-preservation than any inherent spirituality on my part.

Because I was serving the school of ministry on a volunteer basis (this was, after all, a church-sponsored school), it was necessary for me to work a full time job after classes ended at noon.  I took a job as a courier, which consisted mainly of driving around in my little pickup truck and making occasional stops to load and unload stuff.  Since there were places on my circuit that involved an hour or more of uninterrupted driving time, I had the opportunity to hang out with God and refresh my spirit by worshiping and conversing with Him.  As with my morning “God time,” I would use worship music recorded on CD’s to facilitate getting into in His presence and “filling up” spiritually.  Over the next few months, I discovered God was not particularly concerned about the style of music I worshiped to, so long as it glorified Him and was sung from a pure heart (mine as well as the artists’--I don’t use much music from the big name Christian entertainers).  I very much enjoyed spending time with God every day in this manner, and before long into these times of worship I would begin to be rejuvenated spiritually.  By the end of my work day, I was prepared for a good night’s sleep and the start of another day beginning with morning worship time at the school.

Several months passed.

As much as I loved the students and enjoyed being with them each day, I looked forward even more to my daily afternoon and evening time with God.  This was heaven for me.  I had never before worked at a job where I was paid to worship God and soak in His presence (I was in the vocational ministry for 14 years, and no church ever paid me to worship God).  One day, when the worship was just beginning to get good--after about two or three hours (real intimacy takes time)--the CD I was listening to came to an end.  Normally I would simply choose another CD and continue hanging out (referred to as “praying without ceasing” in the Bible) with God.  Usually He would let me choose the music I thought might best bring me into His presence. That day, for no particular reason, I asked God, “What would You like to hear next?”  I felt directed to put on a particular CD, and the worship time continued.  Toward the end of the CD, the song In Your Presence began to play.  Within a few moments, the presence of God intensified in the cab of that truck; and as the song continued to play, I became increasingly lovesick for God.

By the time that song was over, every fiber of my being ached for Him.

What a sight I must have been--a middle aged man, tongue-hanging-out in love with Jesus, singing to Him with tears in my eyes, and going 70 miles per hour down the freeway.  As wonderful as this short time with God had been, I was somewhat relieved as the song began to end because of the intensity and intimacy of the experience of His presence.  But this wasn’t the end.  Not today.  The next song on the CD was Dance With Me, based upon a passage from the Song of Solomon.  As the song began to play, I knew I was in trouble.  God’s presence became stronger, and I heard these words deep down in my spirit, “Would you like to dance?”  Though the words had not been in an audible voice, they were so strong inside of me that I answered out loud.

What else could I say?  I said, “I’d love to.”

The best things and the worst things that have ever happened to me in life have happened just after I spoke without thinking.  So why do I continue to do it?  Because the best things are so much better than the bad things are bad, and I’m willing to take the chance.  I will not describe what happened next in the cab of that little truck other than to say that my loving Heavenly Father is a really good dancer.  And when that song ended, I was not the same person as I was when it began.

I had gone beyond His presence and into His heart.  How could I be the same afterward?

Everything changed.  When I read the Bible, I saw the scriptures from a different point of view than I ever had before.  Every verse dripped with the love of God.  I began to understand in a way I never had before that our faith is based in a relationship with God, through Jesus, and not in agreement with a creed or doctrinal statement.  I came to believe and know that truth is a Person--Jesus Christ--and not a theology or a book (any book).  I began to examine my motives for why I did the things I did, and I’m talking about the good things.  For example, why did I raise my hands in worship?  Because the Bible said to do it?  The Bible does tell us to raise our hands in worship, but that’s not why I do it.  When a two year old child toddles over to you and puts his hands in the air, why does he do it?  Because he wants to be picked up and held.  That is why I now raise my hands in worship.  As a consequence, I get picked up and held a lot by my Daddy. 

And I pretty much have Him to myself because, sadly, so few of His beloved children want just to sit in His lap and love Him.

As time has passed, I’ve discovered that I have a deeper love for the children of God--even (maybe especially) the “bad” ones.  I can sense (and sometimes see) their pain and despair, and I just want to take them into the presence of their loving Father God who can minister His love, healing, and salvation to them (the word salvation, as used in the Bible, rarely--if ever--refers to going to heaven).  Conversely, I have very little tolerance for the religious system that abuses, robs, oppresses, enslaves, and torments them.  My anger with, and my utter disdain for, this system is such that I must exercise a great deal of self-control when I encounter it or talk and write about it.

I guess I need for God to do some more work on me.

I now have an unrelenting passion for God and His Kingdom.  I am learning to love people in the same way as I love Him, as hard as that can be sometimes (and I am very much a work in progress in this regard).  I have learned to seek the face of God rather than settle for His hands.  Not that I don’t need Him to move powerfully in my life or in the lives of others; but I’ve discovered that if I can find His face, His hands are somewhere in the neighborhood, and I simply can’t settle for just His hands when I can have both.  I have gladly (most of the time) suffered the loss of ministry, position, and reputation to gain Him (Philippians 3:7).  I am not complaining; I willingly chose this path when it was presented to me.

As painful as this has been on occasion, I would not trade Him for anything or anyone.

I’m no one special.  God does not love me any more or less than He loves anyone else.  He does not enjoy my company any more or less than He would enjoy yours.  He freely receives and accepts all who come to Him.  And His dance card is not yet filled.

  Would you like to dance?

 Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com