Preparing Our Hearts for What?

Some of my thinking is changing.  I guess, since none of us are perfect, we should all have a continual progression of thinking.

Maybe it’s a little thing, or a big thing.

We say this in church, but do we ever question it?  We address our time of worship and ascribe to it the purpose of ‘preparing our hearts to receive the Word’.  It struck me today.  "Wait a minute!  We worship God to worship God.  It is not a device of mental preparation." 

I’m not going to totally discount the value that worship might have for me personally.  The value is a reality, however, I’m not going to focus on it.  My motivation for worship should never be, in any way, personally beneficial.  Allow that to be a side issue.  Priority number one:  God is worshipped because God should be worshipped.

As  I continued to think about it, I found the opposite to bear more truth.  Learning the Word should prepare our hearts to worship.  That sounds way more appropriate to me.

This is what I’m thinking about right now.

Is It Enough To Just Teach The Bible?

Our fellowship has some good strengths. I took a survey. Most of the people say that we are strong in: Teaching, Worship and Fellowship. Those are really good things.

We are weak in Leadership, Discipleship and Serving/Evangelism. That’s bad.

My biggest lesson of 09 is: “Invest in your strengths”. We are going to invest in our strength of Teaching, to be more intentional about discipleship, in order to raise up more leaders, who will in turn enable us to be a serving church again. Why? I want to serve better. -I’m starting, by giving the Bible the boot.

Man Centered Ministry

I just finished reading Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour.  It’s the story of a Palestinian Christian who grew up in the early years of Israel’s reestablishment as a nation.  His village was destroyed and his family lost everything.  The one thing that remained, was his faith in God.  Elias was especially impressed by the Beatitudes.  It was from this teaching, that he found his calling in life.  “Blessed are the peacemakers.”  To this day, Elias Chacour is still working for peace in Israel.

I highly recommend this book, but, this is not why I’m writing this post.

While reading it, I was especially impressed by a comment that Elias made while in seminary.  He made an observation and shared his frustration concerning the church being so “man centered” rather than “God centered”.

It was just a few lines.  He didn’t even explain what he meant.  I’m not sure what Elias would have defined as being: “man centered” as opposed to “God centered”.  In the book, it was a passing comment.  In my mind, it was etched with undeniable emphasis.

Consider The Nugget

As teachers and students, we often think in terms of the whole”gold mine”. Teachers want to deliver a complete message: one which carries a rich vein of gold for the student to follow and mine from completely.  For the most part, this is the intent of most students.  They want to see and receive the big picture from beginning to end.

Our ambition for both teaching and learning should seek to take in the complete essence of the; moral, principle or lesson that is being delivered.  However, we shouldn’t discount the nugget.  This past week several people shared insights with me about the lessons I recently taught.  In each incident, it was a “one liner” that really hit them.  They spoke to me as if that point were the main essence of my whole message. 

In one case, I thought to myself, “I don’t remember saying that”. 

I used to wonder about things like this in the past.  I would ask myself: ”Did they get the overall essense of message?”    “Would I have been equally as effective in my teaching if that one line were the only thing I had said all morning?”

I don’t think that way any more.  Like in most things, my mind goes to fishing.  Does the fisherman concern himself with each particle of “chum” that he throws in the water?  No way!  He is only concerned with the bait that is on the hook.  One of the most glorious sounds in deep sea fishing is when the first mate cries out, “Hook Up!”.  That’s exciting.  You jam that rod into your hip, (creating a healthy bruise), reel, pull, loose line, reel, pull, land the fish, collapse exhausted and smile for an hour straight.  Did the chum catch that fish?  Yes, in a way it helped.  It drew the fish in.  It kept the fish interested.  But, the piece of bait that really caught that tuna’s attention..  was the one with the hook in it.

Sure, a lot of people will focus in, take note and harvest richly from that vein of gold that is presented.  However, most people walk away remembering that one verse… that one application.. that one illustration…  with the hook in it.  I’ve had nuggets change my life.  I’ve seen lives changed by a simple nugget. 

So now, when I teach, I don’t discount a single word.  Each line, each verse, each application is potentially rich and powerful to the lives of the learner.  When I listen, the same attitude applies.  Sure, I take in the big picture, but it’s usually the nugget that gets me.

Students..  listen to every word.

Teachers.. consider every word, as if it were the nugget that will change someone’s life.