Bittersweet Farm
Guilt, Death, Emptiness and the Resurrection
Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015 AM
Evangel Baptist Church–Taylor, Michigan
Pastor Ken Pierpont
TGIF: Good Friday Sermon
Ken Pierpont
Evangel Baptist Church-Taylor, Michigan
April 3, 2015
I am a simple parson—storyteller. It is my goal in life to tell the story of the gospel and the stories that surround the gospel. When I do that people’s lives are transformed and then I train them to embed the same life-transforming stories in the hearts of others. I’m out to change my world—through storytelling.
This the second installment in a series of writings about how to live on a mission from Jesus. You can read the first article here. Let me know what you think. I would love to hear from you.
Operation Evangel: The First Element—Prayer
by Ken Pierpont
Last week in the Stonebridge Newsletter I called for fewer meetings and more ministry. I believe the first priority of the church is to make disciples. If you are a follower of Jesus, you are a disciple, a learner-follower, apprentice of Jesus. He has commanded—commissioned—given each of us a mission to be on what I call a “missional team.” In the simplest and most direct form, how can we obey our Jesus to make disciples?
Let me suggest a simple and organic strategy. I like to call it Operation Evangel. There are four elements in Operation Evangel—a disciple-making evangelistic strategy. Here they are: Pray—Love—Invite—Gospel Conversation. Today let’s talk about the first and foundational element. Pray.
An Unforgettable Spring
In March of 2011 Lois and I had the life-changing privilege of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. When we flew out of Detroit it was cold and gray—still very much winter-like. When we landed in Ben Gurion Airport it was spring. We spent our first balmy night in Israel in an inn in Haifa perched high over the Mediterranean. The next morning the sun rose into a clear sky and, after a trip to Caesarea on the Sea, we drove through lush-green flowering fields into Galilee where we would spend a few days in a Kibbutz on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. The second morning we drove through the bustling city of Tiberius up to Mt. Arbel. Mt. Arbel is the prominent geographical feature of the region. It is the highest peak overlooking the Sea of Galilee. I believe it was a very special place in the history of the church. I believe it was the place where Jesus arranged to meet with his disciples after his resurrection.
Being a Follower of Jesus Means Living on Mission
Jesus told his followers that he would die and rise again. He arranged to meet them after his resurrection on a mountain overlooking the Sea of Galilee. On that mountain post-resurrection meeting he gave them a mission—we call it the great commission. It was simple. He told them that wherever they were going he wanted them to gather other Jesus-followers. “Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you…” There it is in it’s simple strait-forward form—the mission of Jesus. It is a perpetual mission. It is still binding on all followers of Jesus everywhere today. He promised his presence and power to all who would take up that commission to gather other Jesus-followers from all nations.
Missional Teams
That commission was given to a group of his followers. Not just an individual. It was meant to be obeyed by groups, little clusters of Jesus followers. The passage in Matthew specifically mentions “the eleven.” I believe the passage at the end of Matthew describes the same post-resurrection appearance referred to in Paul’s first Corinthian letter. “He was seen by over five hundred at once…” There on beautiful Mt. Arbel looking down on all the “nations” he could have swept his arm toward the different people groups to which he was sending his disciples.
There it is. It is strait-forward and simple. I think it is a huge mistake to over-complicate what Jesus said. Break into teams and wherever you go make disciples—gather follower-learners wherever you go. Jesus said; “I have authority-power and I will be with you in power and authority when you do this.”
The history of the early church shows that God would give them a special spiritual empowerment and they would spread out in little Jesus-groups and gather other Jesus-followers. You can read about this in the book of Acts in the New Testament. This spread across the earth and down through time. That is how you came to be a follower of Jesus. A significant chunk of the New Testament was written as letters to clusters of Jesus-followers.
Nothing Else Will Ever Satisfy You
I think we were designed to participate in the mission of Jesus in little groups and we will never find full satisfaction in this life unless we are on this mission to make disciples. John Piper says; “God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him.” He proves his point with thick volumes brimming over with Scripture. (Desiring God or The Dangerous Duty of Delight or the audio Christian Hedonism). He is right… God made us and our fulfillment and his glory go together. None of us will ever truly flourish until we understand the most selfish thing we can do is live a selfless life. God’s plan is for each of us to participate in the Mission of Jesus and God’s plan is what’s best for us. When we build our lives, our churches, our individual lives around this we flourish and grow and we are deeply satisfied, blessed, and genuinely happy.
This is Not the Exclusive Privilege of Pastors and Missionaries
This is not the job of the Pastor any more or less than it is the responsibility of little groups of Jesus-followers. Pastors are like outfitters. It is the job of the pastor-teachers to “outfit the saints” for the adventure of living on mission. “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-12)
This plan is simple, spontaneous and sustainable if we don’t over-complicate it. We can’t get distracted by multiplying programs instead of multiplying disciples. We must not allow ourselves to get too busy with selfish things or even “church-work.” If we stay on the mission to gather in little Jesus clusters and pool our gifts to gather other Jesus-followers this plan will still work today. God will still empower those who act on his behalf in this way. It is not a faithful church that gathers repeatedly every week for more meetings of endless talk and simply hangs out a sign that sinners are welcome. That is nothing like the mission that Jesus gave to his disciples.
It’s easy to over-complicate the simplicity of that mission and substitute the maintenance of programs or the defense of traditions or the preservation of customs that are dear to us. When church becomes the maintenance of programs, the defense of traditions, and the preservation of customs then it has the stench of death on it. When the church follows her Master to make disciples of every nation, it has the fragrance of life on it. It smells like baking bread. We have to continually keep the simple mission on our hearts and give it the highest priority in the strategy of the church.
No Gospel Blimp Tactics
Years ago Joe Bayley made a gospel film about people who wanted to evangelize. Instead of simply befriending their neighbors and building relationships with them they bought a gospel blimp and irritated people by dropping gospel pamphlets on them wrapped in colored cellophane. Jesus didn’t commission his followers to operate gospel blimps. Instead of following Jesus in simple Jesus-clusters and gathering other Jesus followers over meals and natural relationships we have been tempted to mass-produce Jesus-followers. But Jesus plan was for groups to make disciples by hand, hand-crafting them with the help of the Holy Spirit in a small community of Christ-follwers, sometimes as small as two or three.
It is not the job of the pastor to force people into gimmicks and circus tricks to promote the gospel. It is not the job of the church to baptize business models and mass-market Jesus treating people like consumers. Jesus never intended for us to create religious organizations offering religious goods and services in competition with other organizations offering religious goods and services. He intended for his to see each other in cooperation with other clusters of Jesus followers on mission.
When You Need What Only God Can Do—Start With Prayer
When you have a task ahead of you it is good to break it down and think, “What is our next step?” Here is the next step. Start with a prayer partner or a small prayer group. Get someone else who is interested in obedience to Jesus’ mission and meet with them to pray. It is that simple. You can include a small group, but keep it very simple. Just get a prayer partner or two. When you meet each of you make a small list of 5-10 people who are on your heart who are not yet followers of Jesus. Write down their names and begin to pray for them together. Arrange a time every day to pray for them. Connect that prayer time with a daily routine as a reminder. Start with prayer. When you need what only God can do, always start with prayer. There are three other elements to the evangelism-discipleship strategy I like to call Operation Evangel, but those can wait. Begin quietly and simply in a prayer meeting. Remember this. The early church that swept the world began in a prayer meeting with a relatively small group of people. When the power of God fell, the thing exploded.
The first thing the freshly-commissioned disciples were told to do was wait—tarry in the Upper Room and pray for ten days. According to Acts 1:14 they devoted themselves to prayer in the Upper Room. Acts 4:31 says that “…while they were praying the place was shaken… they spoke with boldness after they were filled with the Holy Spirit.”
You can do this. Meet with one or two others. Make a list. Pray. I will share the second element with you next week.
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
March 23, 2015
I have a profound stirring in my heart to have fewer meetings at church and more ministry away from church. I’m not against the big assembly—I just think that weekly assembly is going to be much more dynamic if it is filled with new believers who were mined like diamonds out of the community around the church building. That is only going to happen when we get out of our pews and out of our huddles into the homes and coffee shops where the unconvinced and unconverted live. We will have to be embedded among them not isolated from them.
Bible Christians or Bible-Belt Christians?
Francis Chan was speaking at Liberty University, talking about living a life in the world—engaging the world like they did in the Bible. He pointed out that is too easy to stay in comfortable huddles of Christians and not ever mix it up with people who are far from God. He said that he wants to live a life like they did in the Bible he reads. He said, “I want my life to look like I stepped out of the Bible—not like I stepped out of the Bible-Belt.”
I was eating breakfast last week and reading Tim Steven’s new book on leadership, Fairness is Overrated. One of the leadership principles he emphasized is the importance of ministry outside meetings in the church building. Here is what he wrote:
“God does not live at your church. (I hear gasps of disbelief.) It’s true. Some of the most unspiritual people I’ve met are those who spend the greatest amounts of time at church. They attend every Bible study and every prayer gathering, and sign up for every event and team, but still they manage to avoid become godly, or even nice to be around. If you had to choose between cutting off your leg and spending more time with those people—be honest—it would take a few minutes to decide. Church attendance and involvement are poor substitutes for genuine spiritual growth.”
Much ministry happens in the church buildings, but more and more in our time the people who most need Jesus are not going to come to our buildings. We are going to need to go to them. That is my burden and by God’s grace I am going to do everything I can to inspire people more and more people to experience the exciting adventure of connecting with people who are not yet convinced and converted.
Red-Faced and Crying All the Time
I have two younger brothers. Both of them are pastors here in Michigan. Kevin is the older of the two. He is a pastor in Mt. Pleasant. His birthday was last week and I wrote him a little note. It went something like this:
“Hey! Little brother. I am one of the very small handful of people who were there and distinctly remember the sunny March day you can home from the hospital to the little house on Francis Street near Garfield Park in Grand Rapids. I was really disappointed when I saw you. You were so little and red and just cried all the time. I had no idea that you would grow up to be such a blessing to so many and such a dear and useful brother. I love you and cherish you …and I’m glad you finally got a little color in your cheeks and stopped crying all the time and made yourself useful.”
We need to lead useful lives, not just be red in the face about what’s happening in our culture and crying all the time. Jesus did not shed his blood and lay down his life to inspire us to populate endless meetings. We don’t know how much time we have. We don’t know when Jesus will return. We don’t know when our lives will end. We don’t know how long we will have our neighbors and loved ones with us. We don’t know when our windows of opportunity for spiritual influence will close. We need to make ourselves useful while we can.
At Bethel we have developed a strategy to do this. The strategy is simple and organic and it can be adopted by any person or family or church. There are four elements in this powerful strategy. If you write me I will share them with you.
Until then—make yourself useful. Start by learning the name of someone who is unconverted and unconvinced.
Here is a video that captures the basic idea I am trying to express here:
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
March 16, 2015
This picture was taken in September of 2009. It is one of my favorite photos–taken of four of our sons and our oldest grandson the weekend of a family camp at Camp Barakel. These men are five of the reasons I ask God every day to give me grace to live in a way that honors God and finish faithful.
Here are a couple pictures of Dan and Wes, our younger sons. When I wrote the article they were a few years older than the first picture. This summer the bottom picture was taken. Photographic evidence of them “taking hold.”
Have you ever had trouble training your young sons to “take hold” of a task and follow-through on it? We are always working on that here in the Pierpont household. I wrote an article about that back in 2007 since then all four of our sons have made their way out into the world and “taken hold” and worked hard and made their way. I’m grateful to God for his grace and kindness. Here are some ideas if you are training young sons to follow-through on tasks and work hard:
Teaching Sons to “Take Hold” of a Task
Do you ever get frustrated and angry when your son doesn’t follow instructions completely? Recently, this is something I have struggled with. My angry responses to my young sons’ mistakes dampened the joy in our home, and I knew that something needed to change.
There is something rare and wonderful about a young man who knows how to attack a job and bring it to completion. It is something that can be learned, but it is not common at all. I have heard it referred to as “taking hold” of a task or project. Taking hold of tasks usually does not come naturally to a young man. Boys tend to indulge in folly and to be slothful. They need instruction, supervision, accountability, encouragement, prayer, affirmation, love, and interest. They especially need positive, joyful examples.
Rather than being remembered by my sons as a demanding, harping, negative, angry dad who is never pleased with them, I came up with a plan. This plan allows us to learn, worship, and work together. As a father, I want my sons to remember me as a dad who helped them develop the skill of taking hold of tasks with diligence and excellence.
Helping a Son Learn to Take Hold
To help my sons develop this important skill, I am teaching them to follow these simple steps when given a task. I have referenced character qualities and a command from Christ’s teaching that can provide further inspiration and direction for following these steps.
1. Listen
Carefully listen to the instructions your authority gives, and write them down so you will not forget them.
Character Qualities: Attentiveness
Command of Christ: Hear God’s Voice. (See Matthew 11:15.)
2. Repeat
Repeat the instructions aloud so your authority knows you understand and has a chance to clarify the directions if necessary.
Character Qualities: Orderliness, Responsibility, and Diligence
Command of Christ: “Take my yoke” (Matthew 11:29).
3. Execute
Follow all the instructions joyfully, wholeheartedly, as unto the Lord. Learn to take initiative to do the things that obviously need to be done in order to fulfill the goals of the one who is in authority. For example, if you are told to empty the trash, go beyond that and replace the liner. You can also include spare liners beneath the primary liner for later use.
Character Qualities: Thoroughness, Diligence, Initiative, Joyfulness, and Obedience
Command of Christ: Be a servant. (See Matthew 20:26–27.)
4. Exceed
Always do a little something more than what is expected. The second mile is where the witness of genuine love and the ministry of service begin. Jesus once said to his followers, “What do ye more than others?” (Matthew 5:47).
Character Qualities: Alertness, Enthusiasm, Determination, and Availability
Command of Christ: Go the second mile. (See Matthew 5:39–41.)
5. Report
Go back to your authority, report what you did, and ask if there is anything more that you can do. You need to learn to submit to the accountability of others. We are told that every man must give an account of himself to God, and it is God who delegates authority to those who are over you, so you want to learn to be thorough in your accountability to them. We are to live and work in such a way as to earn the praise of “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” at the end of the task. (See Matthew 25:21.)
Character Qualities: Accountability, Humility, Obedience, and Punctuality
Command of Christ: Await My return. (See Matthew 24:42–44.)
Getting Started
Teaching boys isn’t easy. It requires love and patience, because they will make mistakes and it will take time. To get started, I suggest you begin by having a special meeting with your son to explain the new idea. Have him write down the steps and memorize them. As he gets started, take time to role-play and practice with him. Repeatedly coach him to repeat the steps. Have him practice by following these steps for someone else (his mom, a widow, a neighbor, or a friend). Always find ways to praise him for following any part of the instructions.
Review the steps, and bless him by saying, “You did a great job. You repeated the instructions back, you followed through with all the details, and you did something extra. Now when you report back and ask if there is anything more to do, you will be doing what only a small percentage of young men your age in the world would do. When you get that down, your services will be in demand. Bosses love guys who report back and ask if there is anything else they can do. You have a very bright future.”
The Importance of Our Role
Once a young man came to a business that I was managing. He wore a dirty, wrinkled black trench coat. His hair was dirty and disheveled. He had body piercings and tattoos. His opening line was, “You hirin’?”
I felt bad for the young man. I could foresee that his job prospects were dim, so to help him I said, “No, we are not looking for help right now, but would you be interested in some ideas that will help you get a job?”
Without looking directly at me he said, “No, man. I just did a job program, so I already know that stuff. I’m just tryin’ to find somebody who’s hirin’. It’s like there’s no work anywhere around here.”
He had a point. In our town, jobs were scarce. But I also knew many of the business leaders in town, and I knew they would say that clean-cut, hard-working, bright young men were even more rare. There were jobs to be had for young men like that.
My heart went out to the young man, and I remembered looking for a job one afternoon when I was his age. My Dad coached me on grooming, how to shake hands, and what to say. Before we left, he even led me through a little role-play so I would be comfortable with the wording. He taught me how to get a meeting with the one in charge of making hiring decisions. He then drove me from place to place and waited in the car while I went from business to business seeking a job. Years later, I learned that his heart went out to me when he saw the disappointment on my face as business after business turned me down. He wept and prayed that the Lord would bless me with work. Within a few days, I had two job offers.
I was pretty sure this young man had no one coaching him, waiting for him in the car, or weeping and praying for him.
There are a lot of things I cannot give my sons, but one thing I want to do is teach them how to take hold of a task. If I can teach my sons to be the kind of young men who attack a job and follow through on a task, I think they will be better equipped to make their way in the world. They will always be able to put bread on the table. They will have a platform from which to reach higher. Others will impart knowledge and skills to them. Older men with valuable skills will consider them worthy of their time and training, and they will have the heritage of my own example of setting aside frustration and taking the time to train them in the way they should go.
—by Ken Pierpont
January 2007
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