How do you profitably study a familiar passage?  How do you make sure that you do not miss important insights because you always see the text as you have always looked at it?  We assume because we can re-tell the story that we know all it says.  That is rarely, if ever, true.  But our tendency is to “check-out” when we examine a familiar text.

Few Old Testament texts are more familiar than the spying of the land.  Yes, we know twelve men were sent to scout out the land.  We know Joshua and Caleb urged the nation to take the land by God’s power.  We know ten others discouraged the hearts of the people.  We know the people spent forty years watching a generation of soldiers die in the wilderness for their disobedience.

Do you already know that these twelve were leaders from each of the tribes?  Have you already observed that there were two leaders from the tribe of Joseph since none from Levi would have been counted among the soldiers?  Here we see what happens when recognized leaders fail to urge God’s people to do what God is calling them to do.

The ten led the nation in disobedience by nurturing fear.  They highlighted the difficulties they anticipated.  They focused on the walled cities and the giants they had seen.  They compared themselves unfavorably.  But their greatest failure was not seeing God’s role in this challenge.

How do you lead?  Are you empowered by God’s commission?  Are you terrified by the enemy’s walled cities?  Jesus’ promise was he will build his church and the gates of hell cannot prevent that.  He is taking back the territory over which Satan has claimed squatter’s rights.

Seeing ourselves in this kind of passage protects us from missing it.  It also reminds us of our responsibilities.  God wants each of us to fill the “best supporting actor” role since Jesus has the lead!

John Kenneth King   

Lately you have heard me make numerous references to church planting.  It has become a subject of great interest for me and I hope it becomes a passion for all of us here at Stones River.  The likelihood is we will personally be our own greatest obstacle, though, if we do not have true clarity.

What many in America call “church planting” is better described as church “transplanting.”  A leadership core group is developed within one church that will leave and move into a new area and form a new church launch.  Since this core group arrives as a functioning body, it has really been transplanted.  (If you want to see some fascinating pictures of this, go to www.instantshade.com and click on the link to tree transplanting.)

By contrast consider planting an acorn and growing an oak tree.  We all realize it will be a long time before these baby trees will be large enough to become shade trees, but they have some real advantages.  It is very expensive to transplant already-grown shade trees.  While it appears to be a much faster process, transplanting is also a slow process.  Whether a tree grows from an acorn into a shade tree and then is transplanted, or just grows in its desired location, it always takes time.  Because you can plant and care for many more seedlings you can actually start many more churches by planting than transplanting.

Also, the reality is when you transplant risk is involved.  Large trees with extensive root systems require great care and much equipment to give a good chance at survival.  There is always shock that comes from the digging process, planting process, and stabilizing the tree in its new location.

Many people who grow in one church and move to a new location also find it shocking to be transplanted.  While they do their best to prepare for the move, it is hard to anticipate what actually happens.

When I speak of church planting I am not talking about church transplanting.  I am not talking about people leaving Stones River to be the core for a new church somewhere else.  I am speaking of planting “baby churches” in new communities—especially among people groups who do not have a good Jesus option.  Let me define the terms I use and then test them to see if they ring true.  I am convinced God is calling us to this kind of church planting.

John Kenneth King   

Your sense of identity shapes your choice of activities.  If you are a carpenter then you build things.  If you are a librarian then you purchase, catalog, and arrange books.  If you are a child of the king then you…?  If you are a disciple of Jesus you…?

In the Scriptures we find that God changes the people he calls by giving them a new identity and then challenging them to live up to that sense of self-definition.  Because our relationship with Jesus makes us “holy” we are called to live holy lives.  Here we see the connection between indicatives and imperatives in Paul’s writings.  In the first half of most of his letters he discusses the identity of people “in Christ.”  The second half shows how that new identity in Christ changes the way we are to behave and determines to a great extent what we do.

If you begin to see yourself as a church planter that self-definition will change what you do in significant ways.  You will begin to pray for wisdom to discern which communities need churches.  There will be care to identify the obstacles to planting churches there.  Care will be given to discover the profile of the ideal person to transmit the gospel in that community.  “Who has access to the majority of that community?” is the kind of question that will capture your attention.

Two large draft horses placed first and second at a horse pull.  The second place horse pulled a sled weighing 400 pounds.  The winner pulled 450 pounds.  When someone suggested the two be harnessed together they were able to pull 1,200 pounds as a team.  Church planters realize the task is too great to be accomplished alone.  They recognize their work will require a team.  Their thoughts swing to recognizing who else needs to be involved.  Concern is given to who needs additional training and what kind of training is essential.

How different would our lives be if we saw ourselves as church planting missionaries?  Did you know there are five different great commissions?  Jesus wants all his disciples to recognize that following him means we begin to search for the people God wants called together into new church plants.  Jesus said his disciples would be like their master.  Are you like him?

John Kenneth King   

If someone asks if you are spiritually authentic how will you respond?  Are you spiritually real, spiritually alive?  No, this question is not about being perfect, but about being honest with yourself concerning your spiritual health.

One area for evaluation is to consider your view of self.  Do you have a healthy balanced view of brokenness and worth?  Authenticity is not the same thing as haughtiness.  The mature believer always recognizes that he/she is saved by grace.  He readily acknowledges, “Without Jesus I am nothing.”  But she also has a sense of worth that comes from knowing she is “dressed in his righteousness alone.”

Let me suggest some questions that will prove helpful in evaluating yourself.  Honest answers to these queries will give insight into your spiritual authenticity:

1. What are your personal devotions like?
2. What are you reading in the Bible these days?
3. What are some answers to prayer you’ve received recently?
4. When was the last time you shared your faith with an unbeliever?
5. What sins are you struggling with right now in your life?
6. What is the cutting edge of your spiritual life? 
7. Where are you growing?
8. Where is God dealing with you?

Now, go one step further.  Have a spiritually mature person, who knows you well, ask you these questions.  This person’s insights can help you weigh the answers you give.

Spiritually authentic people not only want to, but also are making steps to honor God in their everyday lives above all else.  They surrender control to God in all areas of life.  They actively give him heart, mind and body.  Jesus is Lord on Thursday as well as Sunday.

Satan loves to have us play the part of the hypocrite.  He’s quite content to leave us troubled that maybe our faith is counterfeit.  The one thing he cannot countenance is us being authentic. 

John Kenneth King   

Paul wrote the Romans that he rejoiced in his sufferings (5:3).  No, he was no sadist nor masochist.  Paul knew that perseverance, character and even hope are formed when faith passes through the fires of suffering.  It wasn’t that suffering was joyful—it can be beneficial.    Our American “pursuit of happiness,” programs us to be highly suspicious if not outright rejecting of the long-term benefits that might come from suffering.  We want to reject a hard path to growth and maturity.  We prefer our way be easy and that it come with lots of assurances that it is only going to grow easier.     You would think our powers of observation would burst such naïve dreams, but they are quite resilient.  It is tragic when they are more persevering than our faith.  Faith tempered by the fires of suffering becomes much stronger and more capable of holding up through difficult times in life.  Watching Jesus in the gospels reveals the way to glory often travels through the valleys of agony.     Do we take seriously our call to discipleship?  Do we want to learn from Jesus how to face adversity?  Yes, through his miracles there were numerous people whose pains were alleviated.  His goodness shines from his healing the sick, raising the dead and giving sight to the blind.  But Jesus personally experienced suffering.  “Man of Sorrows, what a name…” are the words to the old hymn.  Are you sure you want to follow him?     When life is going well and good things happen, praise God.  Don’t look over your shoulder expecting the next shoe to drop.  Just praise him and enjoy.  When suffering comes, praise him, too.  Realize the good we experience is a gift from God.  The hard things can be used by him to make us people of strong, enduring faith.       Tragedies don’t have to have tragic endings.  We all know people who’ve come out on the other side better people.  People of real depth and substance that assures us we want to be around them because they’ve weathered the storms.  God brought them through the worst life has to offer.  He will do the same with us if we persevere.  Don’t give up when the way is difficult.  Keep on keeping on. John Kenneth King

“We don’t need a different name, we need a different reputation,” was how one member assessed the situation.  This response came after someone at the church suggested their new sign have a different biblical name other than “Church of Christ.”    Prior to planting a new church in a rapid growth section of the city, the team conducted a neighborhood survey.  They only asked their questions of people who said they were not involved in a church.  One question asked, “What kind of church would you be unwilling to attend?”  Overwhelmingly two groups were identified—Baptist and Church of Christ.  While the reasons for feeling this way are likely quite diverse, one stood out—too often people in these fellowships are sectarian.     Sectarian isn’t the word the respondents would use, but it encapsulates their feelings:  Exclusive.  Narrow.  Factious.  Can’t tolerate honest people who disagree with them.  Judgmental.  Non-believers found such attitudes to be a real turn-off toward organized religion.     Jesus knew that unity among believers would present a winsome quality to those in the world who have not yet come to faith.  He said, “I pray also for those who will believe in me…that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you….May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them” (John 17:20-23).  Are the divisive, exclusive actions of believers hampering conversions?     How do you treat believers who attend other churches?  Do you exert great effort to question their motives?  Challenge their orthodoxy?  Reject the reality of their faith?  Please realize you can disagree on significant matters of doctrine without doing any of the things just mentioned.     May 12th will give us an opportunity to contribute to a new reputation.  We can acknowledge that a shared faith in Jesus is grounds enough to gather with other believers for a Unity service.  We can show the world around us that His Lordship is more important than any other issue.  We have a chance to celebrate Jesus with others who’ve confessed His name as we fill the Floyd Stadium. John Kenneth King

Cheryl’s story caught my attention.  She was reflecting on how some difficulties can actually benefit us.  She confessed, “I don’t have much of a green thumb, but last year my mom gave me a spider plant that had been overgrown and desperately needed repotting.  She told me how to do it and the results were amazing!  This dusty plant (she’d previously smoked for many years, so the plant was covered in smoke/dust) was wiped clean, separated into three plants and set in NW facing windows.    All three have grown new ‘spiders’ and they have the most adorable white flowers on them that become the spider!   Oddly, the one plant that’s doing the best, sprouting the most new spiders, is the one that our youngest got ahold of last fall… she knocked it off the stand (from her baby walker) and onto the walker and was playing in the roots (aerating it? ha ha)! Makes me think that sometimes a little earthquake at our roots can be a good thing?”     Would you agree from your life experiences?  Do you know anyone who started a successful new business because he was a casualty of downsizing?  He never would have left the ease of his old job, but he would have missed his true vocation, too.  Do you know someone who has become more confident and compassionate because of a painful breakup?  She would have never stretched that way without the motivation of her pain.     Maybe we would be open to such if we could be sure that it was only a “little earthquake.”  Faith reminds us that circumstances Satan would attempt to use to damage us may actually be events God uses to transform us into the kind of people who exhibit Jesus’ character most clearly.  When we remember “greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world,” we can bear up under our struggles and hold on to the promises.     The assurance of faith comes not in us knowing ahead, it comes in us trusting in our promise-keeping Father.  Our awareness of God’s faithfulness and experience of his provisions carries us through those moments when we cannot see the outcome yet.  Faith is “the substance of things not seen.” John Kenneth King

This is the first time in seventeen years.  While we don’t make a huge production out of “special” days, Sunday will be odd.  It’s the first Father’s Day my daughter won’t be home.  She’ll be in Germany for a month.  I’ll miss seeing her smile and watching her interact with her friends at Stones River.    How odd heaven must have been while Jesus came to earth.  I doubt the angels had ever seen the Father without the Son.  “When will he return?” I can imagine one of the angels asking another.  “I wonder if he will experience homesickness?” another ponders.  “Exactly why does God love them that much?” may have been the supreme question.     The Apostle Paul indicated that Jesus’ redemption of the church was part of the Father’s eternal purpose.  Jesus called the church so that the “manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 3:10).  They witnessed wisdom that blew their minds!  It was incomprehensible that the Father and Son would ever allow time and space to impact their relationship.     While Father’s Day will be different for me, nothing could have prepared the angelic host for how different heaven was during those years.  The Son was perfectly in tune with the Father’s will during his earthly life.  He stayed pure and holy—just like his Father.  He taught the disciples to pray, “Our Father in heaven…”  He always turned his heart heavenward whether they were moments of joy or agony.  But never before had he experienced that.     The cross brought a new experience.  Forsakeness.  This was radically different than anything the Son had tasted prior to leaving heaven.  But his association with humanity was so complete—so thorough—he went all the way with us!  Jesus drank the cup down to its bitter dregs.  The one who knew no sin became sin for us.     If ever you doubt your heavenly Father’s love for you, just go back to the cross.  Remember the excruciating aloneness the Son tasted so you could always be in the Father’s presence.  I am glad they are reunited.  I look forward to Rachel’s return.  Reunion is such a sweet experience. John Kenneth King

A Church Without Walls? While I haven’t read the book with this title, a friend recommended it to me a few years ago.  The title stuck and prompts me to ponder its possible meaning.    This title comes to mind every time we have a Praise in the Park because we experience it quite literally.  Pavilion 7 doesn’t have any walls and we were very aware of that when we had to bundle up like we were going skiing.  I pray we will have the beautiful weather we’ve been enjoying lately.  But what might that say about a church?     There are many ways into a church without walls.  You don’t have to worry about the doors because there are no walls keeping you out.  Without walls there are no gatekeepers to dictate terms of entrance.  All are welcome who will gather with those on the way. A church without walls is more visible.  You can’t hide behind the walls because there are none.  People passing by get to observe your conduct without having to enter.  They can watch you from afar to consider whether or not your practices are worthy of participation.  Jesus was the one who spoke of putting a lamp on a stand rather than under a bowl.     A church without walls is much simpler.  Too often our buildings become increasingly more complicated.  At what point does all our stuff get in the way of what we are supposed to be about?       My time in Africa has contributed to some of these thoughts, too.  When you are trying to train others to become church planters you think about these issues.  What is really necessary to have a church?  My study indicates you need Jesus, the Scriptures and people to have a church.  Even a roof is a luxury.  Many churches meet under a large tree.     I pray we don’t become so dependent on our stuff that we assume we cannot do church without it.  Maybe Praise in the Park is a good reminder that church isn’t about the building but about people gathered in submission to Jesus, through Scriptures.  We can be a church wherever we are.  Let’s make sure we don’t complicate simple spiritual truths. John Kenneth King

A Changed Identity

Likely you’ve seen the commercial where the elderly lady is removing leaves from her above ground pool, but the voice you hear doesn’t fit her.  The piece is using the fear of identity theft to promote a particular credit card company because of their protections against such happening to their users.    High-tech thieves are taking the money of unsuspecting individuals without personally entering their homes or lock boxes.  By acquiring your account numbers and other personal information they pretend to be you as they blow through your financial resources. Taking someone else’s place and accessing their resources is a biblical topic—no, not through fraud, but through faith.  You and I have received the privilege of being identified with Jesus.  As the old hymn says, “I owed a debt I could not pay, He paid a debt He did not owe.”      More accept that as the grounds of our justification than our sancti-fication.  We run the risk of making the same basic mistake of the Galatians.  Paul expressed his outrage over their choice to try to live the Christian life from a position of merit:  “Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” Salvation doesn’t just begin “by grace through faith,” it is completed “by grace through faith.”  Sanctification (the process of becoming holy) is accom-plished when God carries to completion the good work he has begun in us.  The resurrection power that raised Jesus from the grave is the same power that transforms us into his image.  But we have to beware of the temptation to seize control of our lives and attempt to live up to a human standard of holiness.  God has called us to a life of grace, not law.     Our identity as children of God should shape us into spiritually maturing people who progressively become more like the one in whom we live—Jesus.  No one can steal his identity, but it has freely been offered to all.  With Paul we can say, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). John Kenneth King