Miscellany 2

EVANGELISM AND DISCIPLESHIP: I am gratified at your response to Dr. Bob Davis and his message the other Sunday. I got some very favorable comments regarding his ministry among us. Bob is a good friend. I guess I've known him for 30 years now. The Lord has used him all over our country as he has preached the simple gospel.

Dr. Davis is an evangelist. That means his primary task is reaching the lost, preaching the news of salvation in Jesus to them. In Ephesians 4 Paul mentions that evangelists are gifts to the churches to assist them in witnessing to unbelievers. Congregations ought to bring in these guys from time to time as they are divinely skilled to help gather in the harvest.

The giftings and role of a pastor are a little different. Even though he should occasionally "do the work of an evangelist"(2 Timothy 4:5) his major responsibility is developing the saints, those who are already Christians. He is to feed and instruct them. Disciple them. Guide them. Build them up in the faith so that they become strong, solid, serving, Christ-like followers of the Master. His sermons will usually not be of the same type as those of the evangelist. Theoretically he should be offering deeper, stronger stuff. If he does his job some soulwinners will eventually spring up from within the church.

After one has been evangelized(gotten saved, become a Christian) he should advance and progress and mature as a disciple. So assemblies benefit from the unique ministries of both kinds of servants in reaching and then strengthening converts. It is likely that we will invite Bob back to be with us again at some future time. We'll use other evangelists as well. Between their visits let's study and dig and pray and get stretched and grow to become all that God wants us to be spiritually.

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Yesterday I was perusing a Christian book in a local bookstore and was impressed with it and almost bought it. Something kept me from doing so. Later, at home, I got to reflecting. I think I already have that book. This morning I started searching through all my stacks and sure enough, I had purchased that work, a few years back! I found it. That set off more reflection. A spiritual lesson emerged. How many people are longing for something to fill their souls and relieve the emptiness and are trying anything and everything to be happy when all the time what they crave most is so close at hand(Romans 10:5-13)? It's Jesus we really need. Isaiah 55:1-3 is a great text on this. Booze and drugs and wild partying and promiscuous sex can never ultimately satisfy. Trying to find love in an extramarital affair when genuine intimacy can be found right at home with one's spouse(Proverbs 5) or seeking to discover fulfilment by overwork at the office or plant when incredible joy can be yours right in your house by building stronger relationships with your kids are foolish pathways. By the way, not that it matters to this discussion, but just in case you're wondering, the book I rediscovered in my own dwelling is Dallas Willard's neat work on developing Christ-like character, The Renovation Of The Heart(NavPress, 2002).

Saturday morning I literally wept through almost 2 hours of the show on HGTV called Extreme Makeover:Home Edition. A large group of designers and builders and just ordinary folks built, from scratch, in one week's time, a palatial new house for a widowed young pastor's wife with 5 kids who had been living in an old inadequate trailer. And they refashioned that trailer, too, and gave it to another impoverished single-parent family, much to their surprise and joy. I fell in love with that TV program! It set me to cogitating. When I saw all those volunteers united in purpose, working on a common task, each with their particular talents and abilities, laboring hard and quickly, I believe I got a glimpse of what church ought to be like. We are to be builders, you know(1 Corinthians 3, 1 Peter 2:4-6). Building our individual lives up on the inside but also constructing, under God, a spiritual, ever-growing congregation. And, it's good, too, for a fellowship to every now and then perhaps do a big hands-on, physical labor kind of project to help people. In eternity we'll still be constructing things(Isaiah 65:21-22). I can't wait to travel throughout the universe designing and building homes to the glory of God...even though I don't know the first thing about hammers, nails, lumber, and saws now!!!!