This is what the Lord says:

“As for the prophets
    who lead my people astray, 
they proclaim ‘peace’ 
    if they have something to eat,
but prepare to wage war against anyone
    who refuses to feed them.
⁶ Therefore night will come over you, without visions,
    and darkness, without divination. 
The sun will set for the prophets, 
    and the day will go dark for them. 
⁷ The seers will be ashamed 
    and the diviners disgraced. 
They will all cover their faces 
    because there is no answer from God. ”  Micah 3:5-7

You can call me a homer if you like, but I honestly think Josh Hamilton has maybe the sweetest swing in baseball.  His season thus far certainly supports that opinion.  Last week, his four-home-run performance against the Orioles became just another illustration (just to put that in perspective, that has only been done 16 times in all of MLB history…that makes it even more rare than pitching a perfect game).  But let’s be clear about those home-runs.  They do not happen because of Hamilton’s amazing backstory, and they do not happen because of his title or his position as a major league player, and they do not happen because he has somehow earned the respect of his team mates or of opposing players.  Those home-runs happen because of many long hours of perfecting a swing and then repeating that swing perfectly under the circumstances.  It is about sticking radically to that perfection and not wavering from it even a little bit.  When Hamilton does that, when he sticks exactly with that perfect groove, not adding anything to the well-rehearsed swing and not leaving anything out…when he does it exactly the way the swing was given to him, the power follows.

It should not surprise you that, in my work with conflicted congregations, the topic of “pastoral authority” comes up pretty often.  The pastor, after all, eventually gets thrust into the middle of pretty much every congregational conflict.  Finding himself (or herself) there, he/she then must begin to form some conclusions about the issues.  As soon as that happens, there are some who disagree with the pastor, and that almost always will eventually bring to the table the discussion about pastoral authority.  What does it mean, when does it “trump” all else, and is it the end of the conversation?

I would like to answer those questions by first asking and answering a different question: under what circumstances does pastoral authority fade away?

First of all, it seems to me that “pastoral authority” (whatever it means) is meaningless except as it is attached to decisions.  In other words, it is what a pastor says or does (or chooses not to say or not to do) which is either filled with authority or not.  The power of Josh Hamilton’s swing is only “in play” when he is actually swinging a bat.  It is pointless to talk about pastoral authority separate and apart from the specific decisions in question.

Secondly, then, pastoral authority becomes less a question about office or title and much more a question about the presence and power of God in a specific word or course of action.  The more careful a pastor is to speak exactly what God has given him/her to speak, the more authority those words carry.  But as a pastor gets away from the precision of God’s message or direction, the authority begins to fade.  Like Hamilton’s swing, it is not likely to be perfect every time…but when it is, the power (the authority) is there.

The scary thing, then, about pastoral authority is that (like the sweetness of a baseball swing) it is neither guaranteed nor permanent.  Any pastor worth his or her salt can testify to this.  It takes hard work and discipline and study and prayer to find the precision of God’s message in each lesson taught.  And when we get it right, it is so very right.  But when that hard work and discipline and study and prayer wane, so does the authority.

For a true shepherd, a genuine leader among God’s people, that understanding comes with great fear and trembling.  Just ask Micah…he will tell you.

© Blake Coffee

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Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. Hebrews 12:1-2a

Step 2: We come to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

[I am using these Tuesday Re-mixes for a few weeks to think (again) about our addiction to self-reliance and how that addiction is one of the biggest challenges to genuine community which we face in the American church culture.]

For pretty much anyone following this blog, step 2 in our recovery from addiction to self-reliance seems like a no-brainer.  I know that all of you believe in a power greater than yourself and that you would call that power God.  You don’t need me to point that out to you here, nor to find some creative way of showing you that truth.

Instead, I want to challenge you to consider another higher power.

There is a higher power in our lives which co-exists with God, in fact, it exists by His hand and is ordained by Him and empowered by Him…even indwelled by Him.  It is a higher power which He has determined to use as a Spiritual authority in our lives and, without it, we simply cannot overcome our addiction to self-reliance.  It is a higher power which is absolutely critical to our growth, our ministry, and our very purpose in this world.  That higher power is…Christian community. Without it, we are rudderless in the chaotic seas of this dark world.

The simplest and most convincing evidence of this truth is this: you cannot think of a single hero of our faith who has been used by God in the age of the church and who lived and grew Spiritually outside of the church.  None.  I believe that fact is significant, don’t you?

Since the Day of Pentecost described in Acts 2, God has made a choice which He is both content and resolved to make: that all of his church will be grown and nurtured and will find meaning and ministry within the context of Spirit-filled community.  All of us.  Period.  You can search the scripture through and through and you will not find any evidence to the contrary.  Simply put, the community of believers is to be a “higher power” in all of our lives.

And to bring application to our specific support group, I suppose it goes without saying that we are powerless to overcome our addiction to self-reliance without learning to lean into community with other believers.  It has, after all, been God’s plan all along.

So, who are the heroes of your faith?  George Mueller? Corrie Ten Boom? C.S. Lewis? Dietrich Bonhoeffer? Brother Lawrence? Oswald Chambers? Mother Theresa? The entire cloud of witnesses who have come before us…all of them…every last one of them…testify to this truth.  They would never have found significance in their world outside of the influence and accountability of Christian community in their lives.  It served as a critical “higher power” through which God would mold them and shape them.  And that same God Who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow insists on those same terms with you and with me.  We need only buck up and deal with it.  There is no plan B.

© Blake Coffee

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Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,
who rely on horses,
who trust in the multitude of their chariots
and in the great strength of their horsemen,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel,
or seek help from the Lord.  Isaiah 31:1

I pay $4.00 for a cup of Starbucks coffee, when I could pay half that elsewhere.  And I pay with my iPhone.  And I follow American Idol (best season ever!).  And I watch ESPN Sportcenter pretty much every day.  And I follow secular bloggers, like Seth Godin and Michael Hyatt.  I do most of these things because I want to be a part of this culture where I live…I want to understand it and to be accepted in it.  I want to have influence in it as well.  To be blunt, I want to be one of the cool kids.

I will also admit to you that I want this, even knowing that there are times and circumstances when it is not God’s first and perfect will for me.  What I mean by that is…being one of the cool kids may well be more important to me sometimes than it should be.  I try to be cognizant of that, but I am certain I sometimes miss the mark.  I know that I am capable of looking in the wrong places for my acceptance…making “alliances” for my security other than with the Lord.

Judah did that with Egypt.  In the face of certain discipline from God (at the hands of the Assyrians), rather than turning toward God and taking their medicine, they turned toward Egypt for acceptance and security.  God’s path for them was going to be difficult and inconvenient and painful, and they wanted options.  It was a pattern for them and it is a pattern for us as well, don’t you think?

I sometimes worry that the church is likewise guilty of this.  I think we can work so hard to be culturally relevant (to be “one of the cool kids”), that we miss God’s intention for us.  I think we must be careful about our “alliances”, i.e., those from whom we find our acceptance or our security.  We may not be tempted by horses and chariots so much, but I do know I have seen churches turning to other worldly things for the preservation of their institution.  For example, I have seen churches turn to financial security for their preservation.  I have seen churches turn to political power for their preservation.  I have seen churches relying upon the popularity of their pastor for their security.  I have seen churches dilute the gospel in order to be accepted as “one of the cool kids” by their secular community.

The point is, the revolution Christ started is about being loving but is not about being popular…it is about being relevant and practical, but it is not about selling out to cultural supremacy…it is about meeting needs but it is not about feeding consumers.  Sometimes, the line between these concepts  is a fine line to walk.  But walk it we must, wouldn’t you agree?

© Blake Coffee

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Step 1: We admit we are powerless over our addiction and that our lives have become unmanageable.

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”   When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”  Luke 18:22-25

I am using these Tuesday Re-mixes for a few weeks to think (again) about addiction to self-reliance and how that addiction is one of the biggest challenges to genuine community which we face in the American church culture.

You want to know another reason why it is so difficult for me to admit that I am powerless over my addiction to self-reliance and that my life has become unmanageable because of it?  It is because I am an American Christian…in other words, I am the “rich young ruler” to whom Jesus says, “give it all up and just rely on me, then we can talk.”

We, the church in America, are SERIOUSLY wealthy, not only in material things but in human resources, giftedness, skills, abilities, ingenuity, innovation, strategic thinking, and in almost everything else one might imagine to be helpful in building any organization.  Moreover, we have virtually all the freedom in the world to build our churches and to thrive, free from government interference or persecution.  We have entire libraries full of books written by our pastors.  We can flip to any of hundreds of radio stations and hear our choice of preachers.  And I can spend a lifetime (and HAVE) studying the church and learning strategies for building it and measuring which of those strategies works best in which environments.  We are really good at doing church.  I am really good at doing church.  How easy it is to carry on as if I do not need any help at all when it comes to being a good churchman.

So it hits me like a splash of cold water for Jesus to say to me, “You’ve done pretty well Blake…now go and get rid of everything you think you know about church and about conflict and about peacemaking and about the Bible and about my people…give it all to me and just come and rely on me.”  It is what He demands of me.  It is not safe and it is not popular.  In fact, it is not even reasonable.  It is utterly and profoundly radical.  And it scares me.

It requires such a level of childlikeness and humility so as to make me entirely uncomfortable.  I would much rather just rely on the things I know.  After all, I know more than most about the church and the Bible and about God.  Isn’t that enough?  It is certainly safer…and more predictable.  Of course, I may be wrong from time to time, but I will take those odds most days rather than give up all control and rely completely on Him.  That is the truth.  It is especially true when I am operating in an area of strength for me.  But Jesus says, “Go and give up that strength…put it all in my hands…stop relying on yourself and your wealth of resources and just rest in me.”

*sigh*

That is really, really tough.  And it is so much more than just a one-time event.  It is a constant, moment-by-moment deal.  And I suspect that I fail more than I succeed at it, which is why I find myself here in our Thursday support group for people addicted to self-reliance.  I need help!  I truly am powerless to do this alone.

© Blake Coffee

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“Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger,
in whose hand is the club of my wrath!”  Isaiah 10:5

I know I have joked (kind of) in previous posts about how theology watchdogs in the blogosphere (and in the church) are annoying in the same way as that teacher in high school who constantly corrected your grammar while you were trying to talk.  But I also do recognize that God has given us brothers and sisters whose giftedness and very calling is to help us keep our doctrine pure…they are the doctrine disciplinarians, if you will.  You know the ones I mean.  They blog about your favorite pastor, who made a horrendous, unbelievable, heretical, probably-not-saved-if-you-say-this theological error in his sermon last week.  They call him out by name, and the venom with which they attack him is, well, pretty ungodly.  Or they review the most recent book by one of your favorite authors and basically question his very humanity, not to mention his spirituality, because of the position he seems to have taken on this theological issue or on that social issue…again, with uncommon rancor.

[And, as an aside, you know what is one of my pet peeves?  That blogger almost never makes any attempt at all to actually contact that pastor/teacher/author in order to practice this "discipline" or "accountability" Biblically, which pretty quickly gets me wondering whether they are really loving this brother or rather are just a little envious of his acclaim.  But I digress.]

I know that God disciplines us.  And I know that he often uses others to do it.  I am really OK with that.  In fact, it seems like a good plan to me.  I think scripture gives us plenty of examples of God using people to discipline his children.  Sometimes, he even used a pagan, non-believing people (like the Assyrians) to do it.

But scripture seems equally clear to me that to be used by God in this fashion comes with a heavy responsibility.  God’s discipline is to be carried out God’s way and with God’s honor and God’s love in our hearts and our minds.  When God’s “tool of discipline” forgets this or forsakes it, the consequences are dire.  When God punishes the punisher, it is ugly and horrifying, filled with His wrath.  Again, the Assyrians come to mind.

So, fellow bloggers and church leaders…before your fingers hit the keyboard to release your discipline on that weak-minded pastor or that hopelessly lost author or that wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing so deserving of your harsh rebuke, will you make sure your knees hit the ground and your heart turns toward God?  We need your passion.  God’s kingdom needs your giftedness.  The church needs your laser focus on helping us keep our doctrine straight.  And we love you too much to allow you to throw it all away because of a wrong attitude or a bad motive.  Fulfill your calling…by checking your heart!

And stop correcting my grammar.  Seriously.

© Blake Coffee

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on this website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Blake Coffee.  Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com

Step 1: We admit we are powerless over our addiction and that our lives have become unmanageable.

There’s an old joke about two guys out on a camping trip.  They are at their campsite and they spot a bear off in the distance.  They are watching it when it spots them and starts coming toward their campsite and then starts running toward their campsite!  One guy grabs his gun and starts loading it and grabbing extra ammunition.  The other guy grabs his tennis shoes and starts furiously lacing them up.  The first guy says, “Are you crazy!?  You’ll never outrun the bear!”  And the second guys says, “I don’t have to outrun the bear.  I just have to outrun you!”

In my addiction to self-reliance, i.e., my fear of being too transparent with my friends, i.e., my secret disdain for the type of “community” and interdependence described in the Bible, there is a perspective that “enables” my addiction.  It actually makes the addiction worse.  It is the perspective that I don’t really have to be as perfect as God desires me to be…I just have to be better than the guys around me.  It is an attitude that all but gives up on living the life God intends for me and stays content with living a life that looks pretty good when compared to lots of other people.  It is the attitude that says, “I don’t have to outrun the bear…I just have to outrun the guy next to me.”

You see, no matter how badly I mess up, I can always find someone else who messed up “worse” in my opinion.  And as long as I can feel like I’m doing better than most folks around me, I can convince myself that I’m good enough.  ”Better than average” works fine for me.  And as long as that is the case, I don’t need anyone else’s help!  I can accomplish “better than average” all by myself!  In other words, if my standards are low enough, I am NOT powerless and my life is NOT unmanageable.

But what if the standard really is much higher?  What if God’s intention really is that I follow Him completely and that I commit to Him all the way?  What if I am not to be comparing myself to other people, but am to compare myself to Christ Himself?  What if my expectation really is to outrun the bear, and not just the guy next to me?  How in the world could I meet that expectation without a lot of help?  How would it ever be possible on my own?  It would not be!

When I lift my gaze a little higher and look up to Him and His Word for me…when I begin to realize the kind of life God really calls me to as a follower of Christ…when my “standard” becomes God-sized and my goals all become eternal, then I can see that I am a miserable failure.  I need help.  I need a community of believers who will walk with me and push me to become the man God calls me to become.  All it takes to see the truth about myself is the right plumbline…the right standard of measure.  If God’s Word becomes that standard, then step 1 in my recovery from my addiction to self-reliance comes into focus much more easily.  I truly am powerless on my own, and my life truly is completely unmanageable.

It’s all just a matter of perspective.

That is how I get to setp 1.  And you?  How do you get there?

© Blake Coffee

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on this website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Blake Coffee.  Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

 And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

 He said, “Go and tell this people: “‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’  Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes.  Isaiah 6:8-10

Believe me when I tell you there are parts of my work as an attorney which I do not like.  Likewise, there are parts of my work as a church mediator which are hard and not very rewarding.  Likewise, there are parts of my various assignments as a church leader which I would definitely rather not do…things I definitely do not feel “gifted” to do, but which my leadership requires nonetheless.

Isaiah’s calling was almost certainly not to do something he enjoyed doing.  It was a calling to do a very hard thing…for over forty years…with practically no visible return whatsoever.

So, I hope my pastor friends will understand when I tend to look with some skepticism at their desire to just do the part of pastoring which they enjoy doing.  Some would like to just focus on the preaching and teaching without having to bother with the “pastoral care” parts.  Others would like to focus on the administrative aspects without having to do so much preaching and teaching.  Still others could be content just doing hospital visits all day long and never having to attend another insufferable committee meeting.

Shepherding God’s people includes all of those things.  You don’t have to be good at all of them…but you do have to do all of them.  If you don’t feel called to visit sick people and to counsel grieving people…you probably are not called to be a pastor.  If you don’t feel called to research, prepare and deliver God-honoring sermons, then you are probably not called to shepherd God’s people.  If your calling does not include a modicum of “interminable committee meetings”, then you are probably not called to lead in the church.  If relationships are just not what God called you to do, then you are definitely not called to be an influencer of God’s people.

If Isaiah teaches us anything at all, he gives us a glimpse of one central eternal truth about leadership among God’s people: it is a calling to do hard things.  The old saying is never any truer than it is with regard to leadership…”If it were easy, everybody would be doing it!”

Do the hard things.  They are not incidental to your calling…they are at its very heart.

© Blake Coffee

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on this website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Blake Coffee.  Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com