Boldness and Passionate Spirituality
By Bill Jacobs
An article is taken from a transcript date September 11, 2008.
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Today's presentation is titled Boldness and Passionate Spirituality . It's the fourth presentation on the subject of Passionate Spirituality . You'll remember that we've covered three already. This is the fourth one on Passionate Spiritualtiy , and as it happens, Passionate Spirituality is the fourth quality we've covered in the area of congregational health. So we're halfway done today with this big series that we started last year. Right? And the reason we're covering this series is because the sabbatarian Church of God in the United States is essentially in a no-growth mode. That's essentially what's happened to us. I don't claim to be an expert on church growth, but I know that if we don't start talking about it, we're just going to have more of the same. So I'm trying to do my part. Since we've been told by Christ our purpose is to make disciples, it would be a good idea for us to begin thinking about how to do that, right?
Before we begin, though, I want to ask you if you've ever heard a sermon on Spiritual Passion before? or Boldness ? Maybe that has something to do with why we don't grow. I don't know. Now NCD talks about passionate spirituality as one of those eight qualities for church growth, and then they talk about those three elements of passion – prayer, enthusiasm and our topic today, which is boldness.
So I want to start out with a scripture. It's in Romans 12, verse 11.
Rom. 12:11 – Never be lacking in zeal.
Now think about it. Is zeal the same thing as boldness? When I think of the word zeal , I think more about what we talked about last time – enthusiasm. So why would we be reading scripture about zeal if we're talking about boldness? Well, let's just read through this and then I'll explain where I'm coming from. It says:
V-11 – Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. Then he talks about some things, I think, that we're supposed to be zealous about. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer, share with God's people who are in need, practice hospitality, bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse, rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn – have empathy for people – live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. You know, he must have said that with tongue in cheek, right? Don't be conceited! Do not repay anyone evil for evil, be careful to do what's right in the eyes of everybody. If it's possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everybody. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath. That's an interesting way to think about it, isn't it? If you take your own vengeance, then there's no room for God to do what He was going to do. For it's written, “It's mine to avenge. I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. That's all stuff to be enthusiastic about, right? and zealous about?
So where does boldness fit in? Well, I think boldness comes from zeal for God's way. I think first prayer, then enthusiasm and then boldness. I kind of think that they are outcroppings of the one before.
I want you to think about the people in the Bible who served God. Abraham. Let's think about him. What did he do? He was bold enough to leave everything behind – the land where he grew up – and move into a strange land – to take his family and all his possessions and just up and go, because God told him to. I know he was told to do that, but that's still a pretty bold move, isn't it? Where he was, was over here, and where he has to go is over here, and in between is the huge desert. So he had to go all the way up and around to get there – quite a long trip.
And you can think about his wife, Sarah. She was a pretty bold woman, too. Wouldn't you say that a woman who has children in her old age is bold? I would! Way bold!
Then Noah. He came before Abraham, actually. What did he give up to build that ark? Well, he gave up his credibility. Right? And he pretty much said, “I'm going to do what God wants, no matter what you people think.” And it was a pretty bold move – to build that ark on dry land.
Moses. He gave up a life of power in Egypt to be with God's people. I'd say that even though he was a little timid at first, the more he connected with God, the bolder he got, until he was standing right there, toe-to-toe with Pharaoh, facing him down.
David faced down a giant. Daniel faced down an empire. Prophets – many of whom lost their lives – standing up for God and preaching what God wanted them to say, even though they just knew what was going to happen after they did. That's pretty bold stuff. John the Baptist – preaching the gospel of the kingdom right in Herod's face until Herod took his head. Jesus Christ allowed Himself to be crucified for the plan of God.
And then there was Paul. He just took on everybody. He took on the Jews. He took on the Romans. And worst of all, took on his own church on many levels – had to confront the apostles sometimes – Peter. He had to confront the Pharisees that were supposedly Christian.
These people were on fire with zeal for God's way and it made them bold ! The story of the disciples – the night Christ was betrayed, they all cut and ran, didn't they? Then later, after they saw what happened to Christ, they became so bold nobody could really stop them, except to kill them.
I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone last night – I'm not going to mention his name, even though I could – but he sponsors a small group in his home – he and his wife. They decided to get out in the community and visit some other churches, just to see what other people are doing. They picked the largest Baptist church in their community, which I believe has forty-five hundred people that are on the roles, which translates to about fifteen hundred people at church on any given Sunday, I guess. They joined an adult Bible study group in that church. (Now their sabbatarians, but they just went there to see what was going on.) They learned that the people in that group didn't just sit around studying and talking about the Bible. They learned that when anybody in the group mentioned someone who was poor, or an organization that helped poor people and needed help, these people would go jump in! They might not know about the Sabbath or the holy days, but what they do know, they do ! They don't just talk about it. They do it.
So he was telling me how that made him feel as a new person coming in. Of course, he's translating this into our no-growth mode situation, where we sit around and talk all the time and never do anything, and these people, even without full knowledge, what they do know to do, they just go after it hammer and tongs! They're very on fire for it – very bold and zealous for what they do. How impressive that was to him! I don't think he's going to become a Baptist, but he's impressed by what they do. And it makes him want to be more that way. And he wants to take that back to his home fellowship and help other people become that kind of Christian.
So I think that the Natural Church Development people, when they say that boldness is one of the prerequisites for a healthy congregation, I think that story he told me explains exactly why that's true. When you see bold people, it really makes you sit up and take notice. Wow! Look what they did!
Last year, LifeResource Ministries sponsored a Feast site at Park City and we advertised this Feast as one that emphasized action , rather than just sitting around and listening. So what kind of people would you expect to attend a Feast like that? People that would be more interested in actually doing something than just sitting around, right? That's what I thought. But when we got down to the day when we were going to go out and take care of the poor people, guess what happened? Half of the people that came to the Feast showed up. Half. All kinds of excuse-making, and hand-wringing, and doubting, and picking at minor things so that they'd have an excuse not to go. But when you strip all the external stuff away, it just boiled down to being timid rather than bold. I mean, does it always have to be perfect before we serve? No, it's never perfect.
You might be thinking, “Well, what if the people who didn't show up hear what you're saying? Aren't you afraid they won't come to your site anymore?” Kind of irrevelant, really, isn't it? They may not come back, but I'm not afraid. No. We still continue to advertise the Feast for people who are interested in doing things instead of just sitting and listening. Sometimes you just have to call something what it is. I hope that all those folks will come back and this time be bold. That's what I hope – you know, drop the excuses and get involved.
I mentioned before that, one time in my life, I would have been one of those people looking for an excuse not to show up. So I'm not intending to put anybody down. I'm intending to challenge people to become less timid, more zealous, and more bold for the values in the work of Jesus Christ, even though the environment in which we do our work is not perfect. If I thought that it wouldn't do any good to say that, I wouldn't have said it. So I guess you could say that I have hope that folks will suck it up and move forward.
Okay, so we've been defining what we're talking about here – zeal for God's way that translates into bold action for God. That inspires people. That gets people revved up. It makes people want to be a part of things. It's necessary that new people see this kind of contagious boldness lived out in the members of a group or congregation.
I just think it's so interesting. I've been getting ready to give this sermon for months and last night I called this fellow up – he has some health problems – and here he tells me this story that's the exact epitome of what we're talking about.
There was a book written some time ago. A friend of mine sent it to me not long after I changed my church affiliation awhile back. It's called Wild at Heart . The man that wrote it is named John Eldridge. Over a million copies sold. A million copies. As much as people don't read anymore, it's pretty interesting – a million people bought copies of that book. It must have resonated with people. You know what it's about? It's about the sad state of manhood in the West – Western cuture. He talks a lot about how societal issues conspire to emasculate men in our culture – and how we're not willing to take risks anymore and be bold – not wild at heart, but sort of constrained and caged. This isn't really just an issue, really, for men either. He was talking to men, because he is a man, but it's really good for women to be bold, too.
There's an account in the Old Testament – in 1 Samuel 25 – it was during the time that David was running from Saul. He had a small army – about six hundred people, I guess – camping out in the countryside. Saul was after him, trying to kill him. He was near the sheep and the shepherds of a man named Nabal, who was a wealthy sheep owner. (Do they call them sheep ranchers? No, it's always cows when you're a rancher, right? So wht are people that raise sheep? Sheep herders?) But he didn't actually herd the sheep. He just owned them. Anyway, David's men looked after these shepherds and these sheep. They weren't a threat to them. They actually helped them. They protected them from predators – both animals and human. There was sort of a homeostasis that developed between the shepherds and David's men.
David needed help. He needed supplies. So he sent ten young men to Nabal to ask for some help. Nabal was just one of those guys that had an attitude. The Bible says he was churlish – kind of childish, cranky – good at business and sheep, but apparently not with people. He insulted David's men and ran them off. Do you remember why God told David he was not going to get to build the temple? He said that he was a bloody man, right? And he was a bloody man, a lot of times, because he could be very hot-headed. So when David learned that Nabal had been disrespectful to his men in response to his request for help, it just got all over him. He got really ticked really quickly. He told all his guys to strap on their swords, and, boy, they headed down the mountain to Nabal's place, and it was not going to be pretty.
Well, in the meantime, the shepherds heard about what Nabal had done, so they went to Nabal's wife, Abigail, who was a lot more astute about relationships, apparently, than Nabal was, and they told her that David had been a big help to them and treated them all with great respect, and because of his help, Nabal was a lot better off financially – because of it – and now he's really upset and geared up to come down on Nabal. So she loaded up a lot of supplies and went out to meet David.
Let's think about that. What she's doing, actually, is for her husband's own good – as in keep him alive, right? But she's going against her husband, as well. It's not something that women were supposed to do. So this was dangerous for her on two accounts. One, because Nabal...you know, he doesn't sound like that nice a guy, but she does it anway. And what she's doing is, she going to face an army intent on the destruction of her household. So, would you call that bold? I would. I'd call both of those things bold – calculated risks there. But she does it anyway.
So she faces down an enraged David, the giant killer. She gives him the supplies. She admits her husband is an idiot. She begs for mercy. (It mentions she's good-looking, too, so that probably had something to do with it.) His anger is assuaged and turned away. It's deflected. So she returns home to Nabal, who, when she gets home, is in the midst of a drunken bash and completely unaware that his life was in great danger, so she postpones her discussion with him until he's hung over the next morning. When she tells him what has happened, he gets so upset that he has a stroke and dies right there. David hears about it and he sends for Abigail. So that's the story of how a bold woman became the queen of Israel, because David wound up marrying her.
All the people of God that you can look at – well, maybe except Judas and Jonah – but all the good people in the Bible almost always carried this quality of boldness. Took bold action when it was needed. So what are the chances of us being considered God's people if we are not also willing to make those kinds of choices and decisions? I think being a Christian also entails the need to take risks, especially when we're trying to plant seeds for Jesus Christ with people that we know.
Let's talk a little bit about taking care of people now and connecting that with boldness. In our day and time, we do not have to face down the Roman Empire to be Christians like Paul did. That's not our area of boldness. We have a government that we can kind of slide around and do what we need to do. Right? That's not really an issue for us. And then there are no giants to kill. I mean, there are giants, but they don't seem to need to be killed. So we can't do what David did to be bold. But I think our zeal and our boldness today needs to go in a different direction. And that is the boldness to take care of people's needs and to help people who really need help. At the Feast this year, we were all lined up to go to the soup kitchen at the Feast, and I think most of the people there had never been there to do that before – never been to a soup kitchen. I think most of us don't know many homeless people – hadn't been around many of them. So there's the anxiety and the wondering, “What is this going to be like?” and “What will we say?” and “How are we supposed to act?” And they're busy telling us what to do. And they mention things like, “Don't touch your face, because you could come in contact with somebody who has hepatitis.” So that's not a real comforting thought, because I've always got my hands on my face, it seems like – without knowing about it. So that raises your anxiety level. So to do that, a person had to have a measure of boldness, I think.
While I was preparing this, it took me back to an incident that happened to me some time ago. In Western society, there are a lot of people that believe that most of the people that are homeless are homeless by choice. You know, “They could get a job,” or “They just can't get along with their relatives,” or whatever. I did know one homeless person once, who was a scientist, and just dropped out and hit the streets. But he's the only one that I ever heard of doing that. But, at this shelter, you could just look out at the people there that were eating dinner, and you could see all manner of mental illness, ticks, physical debilities – just all kinds of problems there. And as you looked at those two hundred – or however many were there – eating, it was really obvious that there wasn't a soul there that could compete in today's job market at any level – not McDonald's. They had no place to go.
I did a practicum for my master's program at a free clinic. It was downtown and it was right next door to a homeless shelter, so guess who liked to come in and sit in our waiting room? Cushy chairs. Free coffee. Warm in the winter, cool in the summer. My supervisor, who was a Greek Orthodox monk and understood about taking care of people, brought them in. He told me that when I was not seeing anybody, my job was to sit in the waiting room and talk to the homeless people. I'm sure he knew that that would be at least as good for me as it was for them – maybe better. So I did that quite a bit. Many of those people were schizophrenic. They were delusional. They were gay people. A lot of people were gender confused. A lot of them were high. I saw a guy standing there one day with a cup of coffee in his hand, and he's leaning forward, and the coffee's pouring out on his foot – a heroin addict. So I was somewhat anxious about all of that.
But one day I had an experience that really locked it all in place for me. There was this guy named Joe that was quite frequently at the clinic. He slept in a pickup truck – his truck. It ran. He slept in it in the parking lot of our clinic. He would go in and eat and get showers at the homeless shelter, but then he lived in his truck. He was schizophrenic. He couldn't get a job. He did have SSI, but he had no relatives to live with. So he lived out of his truck and ate at the shelter. He suffered hallucinations when he wasn't on his medication. I spent quite a bit of time talking to him while I was waiting for my clients. Well, one day I lost my wallet. It fell out of my pocket, I guess, while I was walking in to the clinic – or maybe back to my car – and when I got home I missed it. So I called the clinic and the secretary told me that Joe – the schizophrenic guy – found it in the parking lot and brought it to the office. Well, I told Elaine about that and she was so happy that she made Joe a large plate of chocolate chip cookies that I took him the next day when I went back to the clinic. When I arrived Joe was standing by his truck. So I walked up to him and I said, “Joe, Susie told me you found my wallet.” And immediately this look of apprehension crossed his face – just came over him – very afraid. And he started to saying, “I didn't steal it. I didn't take anything out of it.” That kind of told me what his life was like right there. He was used to being the object of suspicion and fear – somebody who was accused of doing things – just because he had the worst kind of mental illness there is. I said, “I know. I know that you didn't steal it. I know that you wouldn't do that. And I'm really glad that you were the person that found it. And I told my wife about this great thing you did, and she made these cookies for you to show you how happy she was that you were the one that found it – for being such an honest person and being such a good friend.” I could just see all the apprehension and fear just melt away from his face, and it was replaced with mostly relief. That's when I understood what it means to be a schizophrenic. They have the same feelings, and the same needs, and the same inclinations as the rest of them, but there isn't any way that they can do a whole lot about it, because they're always looked upon as people that are dangerous, crazy, all of that. So what it really means is, that they're isolated and lonely a lot.
So it takes a lot of boldness to begin taking care of people who are not like us – who might give us hepatitis, or who might pick up our wallet and put it in their pocket, because they don't have any money. But then, once we jump into it, then it becomes something that we get used to, and we find satisfaction in doing, and it becomes easier. And after awhile, you don't have to be bold to do it. You just have to be bold in the beginning.
Again – back to therapy – I was thinking about how important it is for a good therapist to take risks sometimes in order to move the therapy forward. Sometimes people have to hear stuff that's not fun to hear. And any time you have to deliver that kind of message, they can just get up and walk right out that door. So you have to be bold enough to take chances, sometimes, when the therapy's stuck, to move people forward. You risk losing the relationship.
I was working with a teenager recently, who has been heavily invested in believing that she has bipolar disorder. She's been taught that from the time she was little. I don't think she has bipolar disorder. I think that she has attachment issues. She may be bipolar, but she certainly has attachment issues. Her mother, also, is heavily invested in believing that she has bipolar disorder. What's the difference? Well, the difference for the little girl is, that bipolar disorder is a genetically-inherited, major mental illness that stays with one all one's life. Attachment issues can be overcome. My job with that child is to normalize her rather than pathologize her. So I'm always going to go with the thing that's the least sick and work on that. If she thinks that she has a shot at normal, she's more likely to try for it than if she thinks she doesn't. So that's where we're going to try to get some movement for her. But it's risky, because with bipolar, there's no responsibility. You didn't cause it. Nothing could have stopped it. There isn't anything you can do about it, so why try, right? You know, “You're not responsible for how you behave, so you can get away with anything you want, pretty much.” So it's risky to try to go there with her and her mother, because her mother also believes that. So to move her forward, I have to risk losing her as a client, actually. And I have to go with my gut and contradict all the psychiatrists down at UNM that have diagnosed her bipolar and put her on this big chemical cocktail and all that. But if I'm going to be a good therapist, I have got to advocate for my client and do what I think is the right thing for her. That takes a measure of boldness to do that. That's what therapists talk about all the time. That's the issue we run into.
Same thing at church. Same thing with church growth. Same thing with interacting with the people that you meet that you're trying to help along toward Jesus Christ. Have you ever experienced helping somebody with something that's really deeply personal, and after the crisis is past, they sort of fade away because they feel uncomfortable now that so much of themselves has been exposed? You just kind of don't see them anymore, because they're just too uncertain about how you're thinking about them. It happens all the time to folks. So we have to be bold enough to decide that helping them is more important than them sticking with us forever, sometimes. It requires boldness and real love.
Same thing with helping people find God. It's really risky to engage people in discussions about religion and about God. Even if they ask sometimes, it'll come back to us in a negative way. We have our neighbors, our coworkers, our friends, our relatives. All these people have an impact on our life. So, are we going to be bold enough and wise enough to know how to talk to folks? and to take the risk?
I find that once people know that I'm different, they become curious. “Why does he do that? What does he do?” You can see the wheels turning. Then they ask a few questions. Once they realize that, if they want to go to the same place you're going, they're going to have to make sweeping changes – when they get to that realization – a lot of times they don't come around much anymore. It's just how it works. It makes them feel uncomfortable sometimes. So I think it require boldness to reach out to people on that plane as well.
Remember what it says in John 6? Jesus told the disciples and some of the Pharisees that unless they ate His flesh and drank His blood, they could have no part in Him. It says, “After that, some of His disciples walked no more with Him.” Pretty bold statement, wasn't it? If you read the gospels looking for the boldness of Jesus Christ – when you start thinking about that – it's just all over it! It's all over it. Those people were just not comfortable with that kind of intimacy – couldn't trust Him enough. So, when this happens to us, because we hope to share Jesus Christ with people, we shouldn't be surprised, because it's all happened before.
Okay, so we've been talking about this – about boldness. Where does it come from? How do you get bold? We said that it comes from enthusiasm. Well, where does that come from? We said that comes from prayer. Where does that come from? Well, I think it all starts out with faith in God. Boldness isn't completely our doing, because faith isn't completely our doing.
I've been thinking a lot about this. Sometimes I get caught in this thing where I think the results are my responsibility – you know, what God teaches me to do...I should get results. And I sort of start making myself responsible for the results. That's not really how it works. God holds us responsible for doing what He tells us to do and the results are all in His sphere. We don't know enough to do everything just the way He wants it done. So He mercifully doesn't hold us responsible for the results. He just holds us responsible for doing what He tells us to do.
Matthew 5:14. Let's look at this.
Mt. 5:14 – 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 a stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men. Now I stopped there, because that is what we're supposed to do. That is what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to let our light shine. We're not supposed to cover it up – not supposed to hide what we are. God made us different for a reason and we're not supposed to hide that. But then it says, ...that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heavn. So that's not something you have to do. That's something they do. And that's something, then, between them and God. The part that's between us and God is letting our light shine. That's our part. He takes care of the results.
It's also interesting that a lot of the people that I really wanted to bring to Jesus Christ never happened. But other people came. You know, the ones He wanted – not the ones I wanted. So that really helped me to understand what's going on there. So our job is to set the example and do what we're told and what happens next is between the people that see that and God. All we have to do is what we're told to do.
So what can a group do to reach people in the community? What can a group do to take care of people who are in need? When we can answer those questions – wherever we are – you can be a group of one to do that, right? – then we're letting our light shine, aren't we? And God, then, is going to take care of the results. If we let our light shine, that's going to attract the attention of people who value those kinds of things and they're going to see the boldness – just like my friend who went to the Baptist church and was bowled over by how fired up everybody was to actually get out there and do something in the community to help. It left a real impression with him. When our groups, or our individuals, are that way, then that's going to leave an impression. And that impression can be God's invitation into relationship with Him.
I was looking at the NCD literature on church health – specifically the material on passionate spirituality. They have all sorts of charts, and planner materials, and a framework to gear up a large congregation, but most of the people who are going to hear this presentation are not in large groups, but tiny ones. Some of them are even home alone listening to this. Large charts and big congregational organization plans and committees and all that stuff – you have to have that in a big group. But for us, it really gets down to what we personally are going to do. It all starts with us individually to just step up, and joyfully, and boldy do the simple thing that God tells us to do. And the rest? Well, He promises to take care of that. It's not our problem.