Prison Break!


Ed Silvoso came to town over the weekend (the guy who wrote "That None Should Perish"). He shared some interesting anecdotes.

As Christians, we are instructed to share the good news, not necessarily good advice. What’s the difference between good news and good advice?

Good advice is when a banker comes to your house to tell you that you are bankrupt, repossesses the house, then tells you where the nearest shelter is, and how to apply for CDC aid. That’s great (in the circumstances). But when the banker tells you that he has wiped out your debt, redeemed your mortgage, and put a million dollars in your account for you to spend as you see fit – THAT’S good news.

So why is it that we’re so eager to dish out good advice, and so reticient when it comes to good news?

Let’s examine the good news. We know there is a God. This God cares. And He cares for us.


Let’s respond to these truths. What do we always say Christianity is? That’s right – a relationship between God and us. Relationships are whole and healthy when they are reciprocal. Want to experience the fullness of God’s blessing? Reciprocate.

And how do we reciprocate to a God who has everything?

"Teacher what is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus said "‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matt 22:36-40

How do we reciprocate our love to God? By loving our neighbours. How? With the good news. And again, how? By going into the fields.

He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Luke 10:2

I think that one of the church’s (and here I refer to the body of Christ as a whole, and not any particular church) recognized weaknesses is that we sit around having conferences and discussions about evangelism and worship and revival while not actually going into the fields. Ed Silvoso described it aptly as this – we look at the fields which are white with the harvest; and then we build barns, organize committees, set up the machines, and we hope for the wind of the Spirit of God to sweep through the fields, uproot the plants, shake out the chaff and then blow the harvest neatly into the barns.

But that isn’t really how it works. At least most of the time. Jesus tells us to send workers into the harvest field. So let’s go.

If you recall, I’ve mentioned the four levels of Christianity in the workplace a number of times:

a. just surviving from week to week at work
b. applying biblical principles at work
c. moving in the Holy Spirit at work
d. transforming the paradigms at work

Here’s an apt analogy to the four levels of Christianity. In prisoner of war (POW) camps, conditions are terrible. Prisoners are starving and dying.

Some prisoners just try to survive from week to week. They have no hope for escape. They just try to hang on for as long as they can.

Some other prisoners have determined to live life as nobly as they can under the circumstances. They have no hope for escape, but they have determined in their hearts and in their actions to do their absolute best to live dignified lives as prisoners.

Some other prisoners have decided that they will no longer be prisoners. They organize a rebellion and they successfully drive out their evil tormentors. They now have the opportunity to live in freedom. They fortify their prison camp to prevent the enemy from returning and enslaving them.

Some other prisoners have also successfully driven out their jailors. Now knowing the joy of living in freedom, they organize themselves to go to OTHER POW camps to set the prisoners in those camps free.

Where are we in this spectrum? Are you living without hope or desire to break out from the prison of sin and mediocrity? Are you "hanging on" or just "doing your best"? God’s plan for your life is more than "doing your best" to survive from week to week! He has won the victory for you – you no longer have to be a prisoner to the apparent paradigms of your circumstances, at home or in your workplace. Break free from the mediocre Christian life and better yet, take the fight to other prisoners. They don’t even know that it is possible!

Are you ready to be a victor in the workplace? Let's turn on the lights :)

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matt 5: 14-16

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Life as a pie chart

Image
Someone told me recently about a "life exercise" in which one compiles all the stuff that makes up your life, and puts it in a pie chart.  So let's say for me, something like this. The idea is to visually demonstrate to myself that, in the event I lose one of these things, then I can see that, hey life is not so bad, that wasn't such a big deal.  Say for example, if I suffered a blown ACL, and couldn't run or play basketball any more, like this: At first blush - I'd say, hey, I still have my wife, children, parents, career, church life - so, chin up, things are not so bad.  Pretty good life visualisation tool to bring some optimism back into play! ... But what if, a month later, something happens at work, and boom, career gets sidetracked, I lose my job, or get put in cold storage somewhere, like this: Oops, now only half my life is left!  With only half of life's meaning left to me, what do I do? And what if something happens to
Read more

Bullying? Stand up!

Image
When I was a kid, I remember being bullied a fair bit.  I was small for my age, bespectacled, shy.    The teachers didn't help by putting a target on my back by making me Vice Head Prefect.  I would get my stuff just taken away from me by bigger kids, dragged out into the field to be tickled until I collapsed (much less fun than it sounds), and pushed into the storm drains.  Not all the kids were full-blown bullies of course.  But I remember some of them standing by, and politely holding my spectacles (so they wouldn't be broken) while the bullies did their work on me. Most of this stopped when I got to secondary school, where a much larger proportion of my fellow students were now just as nerdy!  And of course I grew up too.  I don't really look back on those days with any kind of animosity, because I think it never occurred to me that it was unusual.  But I do think my experience made me a bit more sympathetic about people around me who are being bullied. When you
Read more

Family AND Team

Image
I heard an interesting viewpoint this weekend. A family is not inherently a team. Hmm.  Sometimes at work, often in church, and most of the time at home, you hear people say to each other that we are family. And often, we really are. We care for each other above and beyond transactional matters.  It matters to me when my colleagues and cell group members (and of course my actual family members) go through illnesses or family issues or work challenges. I root for their success at presentations and projects and relationships. I care about what they care about, even if it has little direct impact on my own life. In a way, a family is sort of an amalgam of people who support each other in pursuit of each member's personal goals. For example, as a father, I support my children in their academic, career and ministry goals. But where they go to school, the grades they get, and the careers and ministries they build - they're really their goals, not mine.  Ditto for my role as a church
Read more