Psalm 11 - Bad Things

We are all capable of bad things, even those of us who are searching out the good things. We are still capable of bad. I would imagine that to be one of the reasons David was constantly asking God to search his heart. Maybe Jeremiah put it best when he said, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”

“For look, the wicked bend their bows; they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart.” – Psalm 11:2

Even for evil, there is a time of preparation. We dig in our heels and consider the best course of action. We bend our bows, we set the arrow against the strings, and we shoot. Who can understand it? Even in our “evil”, Psychologists say that each of us want to be right. With that want comes an innate need for someone else to be wrong. Many times we sabotage the scenario, see the experience through filtered lens, and do whatever we have to do to be right… although our actions may be filled with self, greed, pride, neglect… evil. Sometimes when we don’t even know it.

This is bad news, but there is hope. That time of preparation gives us a moment to fight the action.

“In your anger do not sin…” Psalm 4:4

“…Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” – James 1:14-15

But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” – 1 Corinthians 10:13

When we are angry, we can choose not to sin. When we are tempted, we can choose not to sin. When we are enticed, we can choose not to sin. In the same way, we can bend our bows, and still choose to stop. We can set our arrow against the string, and still choose to stop. It’s not too late, as long as we have yet to release the string. Here’s the rest of the Psalm 4 reference:

“In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. Selah. Offer right sacrifices and trust in the LORD. –Psalm 4:4-5

A Great Offense

Okay, this is going to be a weird twist of thought. But here it goes: We should learn from our enemies (The Philistines). What was the lesson to be learned in 1 Samuel 4? They saw a serious threat, they acknowledged how serious it was, and they attacked it with all they had. They didn’t dig in and create a stronger defense, instead in their fear, they “strapped it on” and attacked. Check it out:

“When they learned that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp, the Philistines were afraid. "A god has come into the camp," they said. "We're in trouble! Nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the desert. Be strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Be men, and fight!" So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers.” 1 Samuel 4:6-10

This week I had an opportunity to hang out a bit with Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, authors of “The Tangible Kingdom”. I love being challenged from guys who live their faith out of the box. I love it when I’m forced to ask questions I might not normally ask. It’s good to increase our exposure, even if we don’t agree with everything. Many times it can open our eyes and take us places we wouldn’t have gone on our own.

Hugh was sharing from Jesus’ instruction to Peter in Matthew 16 where He said, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will NOT overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Matthew 16:18-19

His thought was that as we think about the Kingdom of Heaven, many times we think of it as standing in opposition to the Kingdom of Hell. But that is not what Jesus called it. He didn’t call Hell a Kingdom. Jesus said that instead we should see it as a gate. He said the “gates” will not overcome the church. He drew light to the fact that the gates were keeping us from passing through and experiencing the Kingdom of Heaven. It’s not something we should just “avoid” and stay clear of. He reminded us that they are a serious threat to our advancement. Our typical response is to “Defend” our faith, our ways, our church, our tradition, our methods… but what we need to be doing instead is seeing the threat for what it is and go on the offense. Like the Philistines, We need to be thinking about ways to ATTACK this threat because it is something to be concerned about, not something to be passive about. We should take it seriously, identify the problem, rally our troops, and attack.

I guess what he is saying is that the “best offense” isn’t always a great defense… sometimes it really is a great offense.

I love it that the Philistines realized the magnitude of their threat. They were legitimately scared. So many times we are overtaken because we underestimate the strength and cause of our strife. Especially in leadership, we at times deceive ourselves. It’s too easy to pretend everything is okay. Julia Duin, religion writer for the Washington post in her book “Quitting Church”, said that in all her research the most baffling thing to her was the fact that Pastors were in denial of what’s going on in the American church culture. If the pastors are in denial, their flock will be too. It’s too easy to get tunnel vision and defend our path. I heard once that the greatest threats to the church is when we don’t think we are in crisis, when we pretend everything is going great and it’s not. When in fact the church thrives in crisis. Just look at countries where church is “underground”. They hold some of the largest churches and are experiencing some of the greatest revivals in the world.

But let’s look at us for a moment. Forget the stats that say many are leaving church. Let’s take a moment to look at those who remain. Since I can remember the typical thought is that 20% of the church is doing 80% of everything, not just the giving, but the leading, the serving, living on mission, etc… in some churches it’s 10% doing 90% (and it’s been this way for a long time). Guess what? If our main goal is to make disciples and to equip the body for works of service, then what we’re doing is not working. To 80% of our people, what we say is really irrelevant to their lives. Hearts are not increasingly changing and compassion is not increasingly growing. We’ve lost ground for those who leave, for those who stay, we’re simply maintaining 20%. Are we okay with that? If any of my kids came home with a 20% on their report card, I’d have a cow. That’s not even close to being acceptable. We’re only perpetuating it if we don’t address it. It’s a fact that people are leaving the organized church in droves… let’s start looking deeper at the why. Let’s start asking some tough questions. And let’s start listening to the answers.

I believe we need to look at the big picture of what God is doing in the Kingdom, and fight. We already know the answer to who wins. Jesus said the Gates of Hell will not prevail. So let’s attack them.

How? How about with the methods Jesus mandated we live. How about starting with love and compassion. How about putting people before process and keeping them there. What if we took the time to evaluate where the greatest physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual needs are in our city and make a plan of attack to both meet needs and make disciples. How about we make the sacrifices to show genuine concern for others. How about a concern for the least of the least, those without hope. How about we pour into people as if we truly loved them as we love ourselves. How about we give of ourselves for others and not just our personal agendas. We’ll have to consciously fight for that, because of our selfish nature. How about we listen to the other part of Matthew 16 where Jesus reminded us that on this rock, if we trust His ways, HE not us, will build His church. He gave us the keys to the Kingdom not to "our" church.

Jesus knows this goes against our fleshly nature. This is a battle we all struggle with daily, but as leaders we must work diligently to lead people towards this. It's not only worthy of our efforts, it's biblical, and it will work. This is a battle I find myself in the middle of, and I’m not going to stop fighting.

What about Women

Women are an amazing gift from God. If we see them as anything less, we are idiots. Women are a critical part of not only our lives, but also the church. It’s been that way from the beginning. Their commitment, intuition, and influence are at times, simply unparalleled. It’s a shame when we think of them as anything less than those who “together built up the house of Israel.” I can’t help but hear the story of Ruth and Naomi and think about the impact women of the world, from Phoebe of the NT to Mother Teresa. God has used their faith to radically impact the Church as we know it.

“Then the elders and all those at the gate said, "We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel.” – Ruth 4:11

And what about our own “personal” world? If it wasn’t for the faith of my Mom, I don’t know where I’d be. If it wasn’t for the faith of my wife… geeze, I can’t even imagine.

So today, in a world that de-values the role of women… I simply celebrate them. I celebrate and thank God for their ministry. I’m thankful for my wife Jen, who followed God’s calling and found His favor as an author and speaker. I pick on her sometimes and call her “Jen Hatmaker .com” (especially when she’s getting bossy). But I’m truly thankful for her ministry and all she’s contributed to my life and ministry. She’s more than a compliment to me, she’s the perfect gift.

Fella’s out there… you hear me?