Here I Go Again!

We have been working around a very critical and exciting concept recently. Both Bryan and I are committed in 2008 to solidly rooting our congregation in the principles of the Kingdom. For better than three generations the church has been almost totally focused on getting people to Heaven, rather than teaching the nations.(Please refer to the Great Commission) Trouble is, there is no real commitment required in getting to Heaven. Once you've comprehended the marvelous grace work accomplished on the cross and confessed Jesus as Lord and Savior - Heaven is pretty much of a "done" deal. Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you that where I am you may be also - and if I go, I will come again." In that great promise Jesus affirms that Heaven is pretty much His responsibility. We, on the other hand, may have other responsibilities. I posit for your consideration that if we were saved solely that we could go to Heaven, then we're doing baptism all wrong. We should drown every candidate, thereby fulfilling the purpose of salvation and alleviating the suffering, struggle, and backsliding.

We are redeemed so that in us the Kingdom of God can not only be established in our sphere of influence, but expanded - into every arena of life. Jesus prayed (and taught us to pray), "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." We could and well should infer from these words that it is God's purpose that His rule and order would be established in the nations of the earth; that government would be established upon Kingdom principles, that the arts would reflect His glory, that universities would extol the majesty of his creation, jurisprudence would reflect the justice and mercy of His statutes, families would model the Kingdom of God and our economy would still be on the gold standard instead of the debt standard.

After the Civil War the church began to establish seminaries where we send our best and brightest to train for the ministry so that we could get more and more people to heaven. We have essentially abandoned government, science, arts, law, philosophy, and medicine to the world. The result is that now government bans faith, science mocks faith, art blasphemes faith, philosophy denies faith, and medicine plays God. We are shocked and appalled and relegated to protesting in the streets like a bunch of malcontents.

Darkness does not exist. It is nothing more than the absence of light. If there is darkness in government it is because the light has been withdrawn. If there is darkness on the movie screen it is because those who could bring light to it are otherwise occupied. Science operates in a black hole because there is pitiful little truth offered to expose it. We are encouraging our people, especially our young people that if you don't like godless government run for office. If you don't like what's in the movie house, go to Hollywood and make edifying films. If you are offended by bad science refute the lie with truth. You can either stand on the outside and throw rocks at what you don't like or you can enter in, armed with the truth, and influence your particular sphere of influence with that truth.

Kingdom principles rightly applied would all but eradicate divorce in the Body of Christ. Divorce is ravaging the church because most of us don't see our lives, our relationships or our families in the light of the Kingdom of God. Instead, we enter into a holy union armed with worldly thinking. Kingdom principles, rightly applied, would heal marriages, restore families, unite churches, and transform communities. And, it is my humble opinion, in the process a lot more people would be set on their way to heaven.

I Went To Church On Sunday

I started preaching when I was 14 or 15. It is safe to say that it is a rare Sunday that I have not been in a pulpit somewhere for the better part of 37 years. This past Sunday I went to church. By that I mean I attended a church service. I didn't have any responsibilities other than to worship and to be spiritually fed. Actually, that's not really correct - I greeted people at the front door as they arrived for church. I didn't even go into the worship center until fully 10 minutes after the service had been underway. As I stood in the back of the church I looked around at the most beautiful sight a senior Pastor could ever hope to see in a church to which he has committed 27 years of his life.

In this post, I would like to describe what I saw, and offer a small interpretation of its significance: On the platform was a very, very talented group of musicians - worshippers really - who were leading the congregation in a time of most beautiful worship. Part of that group was made up of my three sons and one grandson. To my left a beautiful and very serious 9 year old girl was manning a video camera taping the service. Her work was being supervised by an 18 year son of one of our elders. Up to my right the 14 year old son of one of my best friends was expertly operating our projection system that displays the lyrics to our songs and photos of our missionaries when we pray for them.

As I stood there looking toward the front two wonderful ladies were partnering in interpreting the service in ASL for our sizable Deaf congregation. One of them was my wife who has been the champion of our Deaf ministry from the beginning - over ten years. The other is Hannah, our daughter-in-law, the vivacious girl who first won our son's heart and then ours. From the downstairs kitchen the aromas of a delicious meal wafted up the steps as it has every Sunday for over twenty years as our Mercy Ministries folks prepared their weekly meal for the homeless and needy of our community. Every Sunday they prepare for and serve anywhere from 75 to 125 persons a much needed hot meal and the touch of the Master's gentle hand. At the same time one our young ladies was setting a very pleasing looking table with silver trays of cookies and decanters of coffee for our fellowship hour to come later.

One of our young men came to the pulpit and welcomed our visitors and apprised our congregation of the important events they needed to be aware of and another man came offer our weekly prayers for one of our mission families. I hasten to mention that the family for which he prayed is an Agape family; Don and Betty Best. Don is one of our prized elders on permanent assignment in Santarem, Brazil. We have another former elder and his wife serving in Vietnam, and yet another overseeing mission projects all over the world from Central America to Southeast Asia.

Then of course, time for the sermon came and as the people prepared to hear the Word of God I walked to the front of the church, sat down and opened my Bible while my oldest son, Bryan, preached the second of a two part series - "Seeking the Kingdom of God." It was good teaching; well researched, covered in prayer, delivered in a thoughtful and imaginative manner - and we were all challenged. When he was finished, he challenged us to seek the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God in every area of life where we have influence. Then he walked to the back of the church and pronounced the benediction and released the congregation to a time of fellowship before going home.

Bryan, elder brother to Robyn, Andrew, Timothy, and Abigail and Associate Pastor at Agape Christian Fellowship

The people of God were ministered to effectively and efficiently. With commitment to the tasks and compassion for and sensitivity to the needs of the body, this team worked together to serve the Lord and His people. What blessed me as I watched all of this was that the week before when I was ministering in another state, the ministry proceeded with the same passion and efficiency.

It occurred to me as a matter of fact, that I just might be the most "dispensable" member of the team and it further reminded me that what I do is successful only because of the under girding efficiency of those with whom I labor. I have always believed, and believe now, that the goal of every pastor should be to equip the saints for the work of the ministry to such a degree that he becomes a "luxury" to the church, but not a necessity. If circumstances should change, and change they might given the dark clouds that loom on the horizon of our nation, and the church is unable to continue with the same unrestricted freedom we have enjoyed for many years- are our people prepared to continue without us? If they are not so prepared; if they NEED us, then we have failed in the most important task of all.

A Model Church

Recently, I was asked by a man in my congregation with whom I meet on a regular basis, "What is your image of the 'ideal' church." That's not a hard question for me to answer because its one that I have considered over and over again. I keep coming up with the same answer: The church described in Acts 2:42 and the verses that follow: "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that belived were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. "

This description describes the 'ideal' church because it is a model that works; in every culture in every generation and while the function of each of the four elements may look or function differently in different settings the essence remains unchanged. Water is made up of a molecule consisting of two essential elements; hydrogen and oxygen. Change the conditions in which it exist and it can be a solid, a gas, or a liquid, but its essence remains the same. Add and element to it and it becomes something other than water. For instance H2O is water, but add an extra molecule of Oxygen and it becomes H2O2 or Hydrogen Peroxide. Add another element such as carbon and it becomes H2CO and it becomes formaldehyde. Likewise, take an element away from it and it becomes something other than water.

The four essential elements that make up the church described here; the Word, fellowship, communion and prayer can function in a variety of expressions and the church remains the church. However, over emphasize one and ignore another - or allow other elements to replace or dwarf these essential elements and its possible you end up with something other than the church. For instance, signs and wonders are mentioned in the context of the Acts church, but as a result the balanced life of the church in action. The early believers were steadfastly pursuing the Word as brought by the apostles, steadfastly pursuing fellowship with their brethren, faithful in breaking bread (I believe this to be sharing communion and properly discerning the Body of Christ) and steadfastly seeking God in corporate and individual prayer and as a result they were the beneficiaries of signs and wonders accompanying their ministry. Conversely, when we observe individuals or groups who pursue the miraculous, the proper handling of the Word of God is often the first victim. The promise of the Scriptures is: "These signs shall follow them that believe;" not, "those that believe shall follow signs." The 'ideal church' pursues the faithful handling of the Word of God and signs and wonders follow.

In a similar manner, the success of the modern church is often measured by the number and variety of meetings available to the membership. The more meetings the better the church. The more variety of speacialized minsitry the more effective the church. We have men's meetings, women's meetings, youth meetings, singles meetings, children's meetings, young adults meetings, boys clubs, girls clubs, and on and on, you get the idea. Most of the meetings require us to go tothe church building where we go in, shut the door and . . . . . meet. . . . with each other. The early church moved with fluidity within the culture from house to house. What we have done is created our own culture which has little contact and no relationship to the culture(s) with which it exists. We criticize the culture, we throw rocks at the culture, we condemn the culture - but we don't contribute anything TO the culture. The church continues to insulate itself from the culture and complain that the culture is godless. Or, we go to the other extreme and become exactly like the culture, not impacting it for the Kingdom of God, but being impacted by the culture of rebellion.

Furthermore, the church has significantly contributed to the already epidemic fragmentation of the family. Somewhere somebody got the idea that if we built strong church ministries the result would be strong families. That idea has not really worked out all that well. We need to bring the family together, not continue to separate. There needs to be intentional fellowship among the saints (such as is fostered in effective small group ministry) and, we need to leave room for members of the body to build effective relationships with those outside the faith, since it is well documented that almost 80% of people affirm that their coming to faith in Christ is the result of long term relationships with a friend or relative. This means that almost nobody comes to faith as the result of "meetings." It is almost always the result of long term meaningful relationships - fellowship.

For the most part we are focused on building large churches and we are good at it. Unfortunately, many of mega-churches (as well as a lot of mini-churches) are filled with individuals and families who are fragmented and broken. In the Acts 2:42 church, the numerical growth of the church was, again the result not the reason. The folks steadfastly pursued truth from the Word, authentic fellowship with each other, communion with Christ, and truly pious lifestyle and as a result "the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." In other words, the early believers were building families, building up their neighbors, edifying one another, providing for one another, exhorting one another to holiness, buiding strong community ministry (the had favor with all the people), faithfully exercising their intimate relationship to God through corporate prayer and as a result; the church grew profoundly and powerfully.

The Thing I Fear Most

I finally bought a scanner today with which I could scan all of my old 35 mm slides. I can finally digitize and catalog hundreds of photos taken over the course of the past 16 years that chronicle my journeys in Kenya, Sudan, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and South Africa all taken prior to the advent of the digital camera. Its a slow process, but it is providing me with an opportunity to remember some pretty amazing adventures. The lions pictured here were snapped on my very first trip to Kenya in October of 1992. I, along with two companions, was driving along the road and there they were. It was the most exhilarating moment I had ever experienced to that point in my life. He truly was one of the most breathtakingly majestic creatures I had ever encountered and so close I could feel him breathing. This is not the only encounter with lions I've had - not even the closest - but it was the first, and it left an image burned in my brain that will never go away.

Every time I read these words the image you see above is the one I see in my mind:
And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

In the movie "Talladega Nights - the Legend of Ricky Bobby," Ricky Bobby said he liked the baby Jesus best. That's where a lot of believers are in their relationship to the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. When they think of Jesus, their minds wander back to a manger surrounded by shepherds and beautiful, glowing angels hovering over. They like the baby Jesus best because He is sweet and gentle and. . . . . . safe. There are no expectations or demands.

There is another Jesus with which we all feel pretty comfortable as well. He's the One hanging on a cross. Its a terrible image and powerful at the same time. Beaten and bloodied beyond recognition, but crying out "Father, forgive them" and washing away all our sins. Certainly not a sweet picture - but still one that gives us a sense of well being.

The problem is that we subconsciously keep Jesus in the manger or on the cross because those are pretty simple images to keep boxed up. They fit nicely within our cozy little religious "comfort zone," and they make us feel safe. Reality is though, that Jesus is not in a manger and He no longer hangs on a cross. When He returns He will come as the Righteous Judge, a sharp, two-edged sword in His mouth. He will be robed with garments dipped in blood, riding upon a great white steed and accompanied by an innumerable heavenly host.


The logical jump in this train of thought is this: That's the Jesus we serve now. Not the babe in the manger that Ricky Bobby likes best or the suffering savior hanging helplessly on the cross, faithfully discharging His duties as the sacrificial lamb, but the One that caused John to go weak in the knees on the Isle of Patmos and causes the whole of Hell to tremble at the mention of His Name. This is the Jesus I want to serve! The one that causes me tremble in His presence.

In the course of 16 years of traveling all over the world I have been car wrecked, shot at, burned out, stranded in the bush, and wracked with malaria. I've eaten monkeys and bugs, slept on the ground, shared a house with a goat, stared down a baboon, walked with lions, crossed rivers swarming with crocs, and been attended by an angel. I have preached to crowds so huge they fill whole towns and held church under the branches of a tree. I've seen men and babies die of machete wounds, AIDS, TB, malaria and malnutrition. The thing I fear the most is being safe.

When one is safe he doesn't need a miracle. When one is safe he doesn't desperately need to see the power of God manifested. Angels don't manifest in the safe places, they inhabit the battlefield. When you're in the safe place, "sweet baby Jesus" is all you need.

Whenever I take a team into the field I tell them straight out, "You won't be safe, but you will see God."

Reflections

I will be 60 years old in December of this year. Something is obviously wrong since Barbara and I only arrived in New England from the hills of North Carolina just such a short time ago - the fall of 1969. Little more than teenagers we arrived in a state where we were the only two Gantts in the entire state. So much has changed since then.

This morning in church my daughter Robyn addressed the congregation. She did so with eloquence and elegance; qualities that I have become so accustomed to from her that I neglected to tell her what a great job she did. Many in the congregation wiped tears from their eyes as she shared how God had delivered her husband Wayne, her two children, Gracie and Noah, and herself from sure death in a fiery accident two years ago. She went on to exhort us all to remember that it is in the "weak moments" of our lives when God demonstrates His great power. How that skinny little girl got so wise, so quickly escapes me. Oh yeah, and the fact that she is now 33 years old also gets by me from time to time. So darling, not only did you do a great job this morning - you reminded me that there is a generation that has its hand on the baton, ready - and able -to take it and run the race with patience.

As I was thinking about these things for a few minutes this evening I realized again how incredibly blessed Barbara and I have been over the years and are now blessed. We have 6 children (our little Matthew preceded us to the throne almost 23 years ago), 6 grandchildren, 3 children who married into the family and whom we love as if they had been born in our house, and 2 living mothers and as I stood in the pulpit this morning I could see them all. My firstborn son is my associate pastor, my daughter and her husband are our youth leaders, another son is a drummer on the worship team and still another plays the bass guitar. A grandson who at 12 is a gifted musician and plays with his dad on the worship team, an 8 year old granddaughter who is one of our video camera operators and video editors, a daughter-in-law who ministers to the deaf, and my baby girl, brilliant and beautiful who will graduate from high school at 16 1/2; mature and responsible. Each one in their own way has put their hand to the plow and we who were once just two just a few short years ago are now many.


The Psalmist writes: (Psalm 78) I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:

There are so many in the ministry today so focused on building their ministry that we forget that the only way to build a ministry is to build men and women and the most important lives we must build live in our own homes. The promise made to Abraham could only come through his "seed"; and God called Aaron and "his sons." God promised to establish the throne of David forever and that promise could only be fulfilled in the lives of the generations that would come after him. The great promise of Pentecost was to "you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off......" (your children's children.)

We must remember that God is a God of many generations. We must lead our children and in so doing we build ministries that will live long after we have died. If we will build great ministries we must teach other men to lead their own families (not lead them for them) and in so doing we will build ministries that shall exist for generations - each one greater than the last.

Huiothesis

I got a note tonight from a good friend announcing that he had joined the 21st century by initiating his own blog. I thought, "Well geewhiz.......if he can do it, why not?" So, I clicked on to the website and began the process of setting up a blog page. I immediately ran into a snag-they wanted to know what I wanted to call my blog. Call it something, I'm not even sure I know what it is or why I need one - now I gotta give it a name?"


Currently, I have been teaching through the book of Ephesians. Verse by verse, almost word by word we have started working our way through this great book by the apostle Paul to the church at Ephesus. In the very first sermon I developed for this series I encountered an absolutely dynamic concept that has become the theme for the entire series and the heartbeat of what the Spirit of God is speaking to my heart for the church. In Epesians 1:5 Paul writes, "In love, having predestined us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the pleasure of His good will." The phrase "the adoption of children" comes from a piece of Greek terminology (huiothesis) which interpreted literally means "the placing of an adult child."

Of course, in the west the term adoption brings about the image of an orphan child, an unwanted infant who is graciously received by an adoptive parent. However, for those of us who are believers in Christ and who desire to become faithful disciples we understand that we were born into the family of God, not adopted. A child who is born into a family doesn't need to be adopted. The term huiothesis doesn't refer to the fact of becoming a child of God, but the reality of taking our place in the family of God as a grown up, mature, adult member of the family; not only possessing the privleges of adulthood, but accepting the responsibilities of that adulthood.

Paul is telling us that the predetermined destiny for the believer if to take his place in the family as an adult child; an heir who is ready to assume his responsibilities in the family. No longer an infant (brephos) who requires constant nurture and protection or a toddler or young child (teknon) who requires diligent supervision and restraint - but a grown up member of the family who is self-governed and spiritually motivated toward the interests of the family.

In the course of my studies I learned of toga virilis. When a young man reached the age of 13 he accompanied his father to the forum or gate of the city where they were joined by the other men of the community for a ceremony in which the men would make challenging speeches to the young man and at the end of the ceremony his play clothes would be removed and in their place he would receive the garments (toga) of a man (virilis). From that moment, the young man would become fully a Roman citizen with all of the privileges and responsibilities of that citizenship. He could own property, make war, take a wife, borrow money and vote. Obviously, his experiences would not allow him to fully appropriate all of the privilege nor would his maturity enable him to fully engage his responsibilities. But, from that moment - he was a man and began to move toward functioning as a man.

The western church is filled with infant believers and toddler disciples who require constant nurture and supervision and an inordinate level of maintainence. Modern believers in the west have more material resources in the form of books, tapes, dvds, small groups, conferences, support ministries than any genration in history, but remain biblically iliterate. We have "swords" of every shape size and description and training abouds, yet we remain unable and unwilling to engage the enemy or the culture on an appropriately adult level.

So, this blog is put forth seeking believers who are ready for the toga virilis - the garments of a man. I intend to post words that will challenge our childhood and ilicit conversation that will cause all who participate (including and especially me) to accept the "adoption of children" - the huiothesis - which is our destiny, predestined before the foundations of the earth.

I do not put my self forward as one who has mastered the concepts, but as one who has a passion for seeing a generation of believers raised up who can comprehend and govern themselves through the Kingdom principles revealed in the Word of God and who hunger to move in the power of the Spirit to confront the kingdoms of this world in every arena and subject them to the claims of Christ and the authority of His Word.

So, blessings to you and honor to Him.
Michael Gantt