God in Remembrance 1.0

“I remember when…” “Do you remember…?” “We should remember…” “I wish he would remember…” How often do you use or hear these phrases each day? Would it be possible to function without them? How much does the act of remembering factor into our daily lives? Over the next few months, I hope to explore this issue in various ways here in the blog. I’ll lay out a little of what’s coming and will try to provide updates in a timely fashion.

Remembrance is extremely important and it has several facets. If we cannot remember things from day to day or hour to hour, we are forced to relive the past, perhaps making the same mistakes over and over again. Remembrance helps us to grow in wisdom as we reflect on the past, applying those lessons that we have learned to the present. This area of remembrance applies to us personally and it is up to us to bear the responsibility for this kind of remembrance. On another note, others may remember us. How encouraging to be remembered by someone during a time of difficulty! Isn’t it exciting when someone remembers to share a moment of joy with us as well? Remembrance thus performed in community can have different effects than that which is performed in solitude, but equally important lessons and experiences are to be learned and had in both.

The Bible is full of remembrance. How often are God’s forgetful people called to remember God’s commands? How often are uncertain people called to remember God’s promises? How often does the psalmist plead with God to remember him during his difficulty? How often does the remembrance of God’s word encourage that same psalmist? Do we ever cry out in unison with the writer who asks God to remember mercy in the midst of His wrath? What kind of memory does Paul have of the churches which he planted? How can God remember and judge the sins of the inhabitants of the earth at the end of time if God does not forget anything? These are all the kinds of questions which pertain to this search and they are ones which we will explore.

The essence of the study is this: How does God manifest Himself and carry out His plans through the act of remembrance? God remembers us. We remember God and others. Forgetfulness is the antithesis which we strive against. O may we remember God as He remembers us.

Shall we remember?

A Compartmental Error

As I was sitting in a seminar today on ministry to International Students, a thought that has rolled around in my mind several times before reasserted itself and went on to provide a good bit of distraction from what the seminar speaker was saying. The thought had to do with how I often categorize or compartmentalize ministry to those who do not know Christ. You might call it “Missional Categorization” and I realized that it often distracts me from sharing the Gospel with those who should hear it.

There are a number of different categories which I put non-Christ-followers and missions in general into. First, I might have “home missions.” This is the group of people who live here in my country of birth. I am approaching them from my own turf and thus have an advantage of knowing the culture which surrounds us and often influences conversations. Of course, they might come from a different culture than the one in which we are located and so there may be cultural conflicts, however, I have the advantage of being on “home turf.” The second category of missions or outreach is what I might refer to as “foreign missions.” This kind of ministry requires that I leave my home or birth culture and move to a culture foreign to me, learn it, and then share the Gospel with the people found in that culture. Now, within these two very broad categories, I may have a host of others. In home missions, for example, I may have specific ministry to people of my own nationality and culture. I may have ministry to people of my own nationality but of a different culture. I may have ministry to people of a different nationality but a very similar culture, and finally, I may have ministry to people of a different nationality and different culture. All these categories can be put into use in foreign missions as well, but the playing field will be different as I, the missionary, will be outside of my culture of birth. Within the categories just described, we may further compartmentalize and have specific ministry to homeless, prisoners, drug-addicts, wealthy businesspeople, middle-class families, young children, high-schoolers, college students, the elderly, different ethnic groups or tribes…the list goes on. In essence, we apply the “People Group” idea to all those with whom we share the Gospel as we often feel it better allows us to break down society into manageable chunks. This can help us minister effectively and can help keep missional vision alive by helping us see where specific needs are located.

Recently, however, I’ve realized this view has at times impeded my vision as to what God’s plan of salvation is for mankind. As a missionary kid (MK), I often tend to emphasize foreign missions over home or local missions. Having seen many people around the world who have never heard the Gospel, outreach to those who live in places where the Gospel is readily accessible seems to be an inferior type of ministry. On the other hand, having lived in this country for a number of years now, I may be very tempted to minimize the needs of people in far-off places as I see many people around me who have not yet received the salvation which God has offered them. I may favor ministering to elderly over children or vice versa. I may want to minister to any created category of people, to the exclusion of all others, in order, I claim, to not be distracted from the ministry to which God has called me. I forget that the Gospel is to be shared with everyone, categories excluded, so that all people will have the opportunity to receive salvation.

In so doing, I commit the very sin which James talked about in the second chapter of his book, verses 1-13. Here, he is talking about the rich/poor compartments, but this principle could be applied to the other demographic compartments which we create as well. I must realize that if I am compelled to share the Gospel, I must be compelled to share it with all who need it, even if I feel called to a specific group of people. In so doing, I will not cripple the work which God would do in me nor the work which He would accomplish through me. May our mouths be quick to share the good news with all who need to hear it!

“Father may my speech be so seasoned with the salt of your Word that as I come into contact with those who do not know you, they may become thirsty for You, the Water of Life. May the human compartments which I attribute to those around me be swept away as I remember the great grace which You show me in allowing me to follow after You. May this remembrance of Your grace towards me compel me to not keep this gift to myself but to share it freely with others. In Jesus name, Amen.”

Unfit to Follow

We talk a lot about leadership these days. Books on leadership, conferences on leadership, sermons on leadership, discussions on leadership, journals and magazines on leadership…well, we talk a lot about leadership. Amongst Christians, we would go on to point out that of the different kinds of leadership out there, the best would have to be servant leadership. “Be a leader,” we say. “And, while you’re at it, be a servant leader, because servant leadership is Biblical.” Now, I’m not saying that servant leadership is not Biblical nor am I saying that learning how to be a good servant leader is not a good thing to do. What we seem to miss as we talk about leadership, however, is the very strong Biblical principle of, can we call it, “followership?” To some extent, we have forgotten (or maybe never learned) how to follow.

How could it be that we could have forgotten how to follow? Even more, how could it be that we could have never learned how to follow? Don’t we naturally follow? Don’t we look up to leaders because they have done something different than everyone else and risen above the generally mediocre level of followers? Well, to some extent, yes, we naturally follow. When we are born, we have to follow someone or we won’t live very long. This state continues through our childhood as we learn how to properly function in the world. As we grow older, however, we naturally become more independent and learn how to make decisions for ourselves, regardless of the opinions of others. Not that this progression of independence is a bad thing – God has seen fit to allow humans to go through a progression of maturity whereby they learn to think for themselves and function in the world. Because of the Fall, the world in which humans function is full of pitfalls which humans may choose and so misuse the independence which God has allowed them.

“How does all this relate to leadership and/or followership?” you may ask. First, let’s think of what followership requires. To be a true follower, one must give up one’s own independence and rely on the judgment of another. You must trust that your leader’s reasoning for making a decision is valid and will lead to a beneficial conclusion for both the leader and the follower. Leadership (not the servant kind) doesn’t require any of this. As the leader, you are the guide for the followers and are the one who is trusted when decisions are made. If the outcome of the decision is good, the leader gets the credit. If it turns out badly, the leader often has the authority to shift the blame to their subordinates, keeping their image untarnished. These are very large generalizations, of course, as leaders don’t always get credit when something goes well and more often than not receive the bulk of accusations when something goes wrong. The fact remains, however, that the position of leader is much closer to our natural bent towards independence than followership is. We want the privileged position which doesn’t require us to submit to others.

I think this natural fallen frame of mind is what Jesus had in mind when he talked about the guests picking the places of honor in Luke 14:7-11. To be seated at the place of honor meant to be a leader. To be at the foot of the table meant to be in subordination to everyone else at the meal. The choice to the guests was obvious: it was time to step up and be a leader, the world needed people whom others would look up to. As He did so often in His ministry, Jesus confronted this natural choice that people were making. At the end of the passage, He makes a rather paradoxical statement about exaltation versus humility and only a few verses later in 25-34, He goes on to point out some of the uncomfortable realities and necessities of being His disciple. Jesus did not say to His listeners, “You all want to be leaders? Well, you’re doing it in the wrong way. Let me tell you how to be good leaders by becoming servant leaders.” Instead, He effectually said, “You want to be leaders? Sorry, you’re going to have to be followers. There’s no way around it.”

So, if we are to follow, who must we follow? In this chapter, Jesus would indicate both fellow humans and Jesus Himself. Jesus’ teaching on this point reaches a great climax in John 13 when He washes His disciples’ feet. Jesus is not giving His disciples an example of good leadership – He is explicitly telling them and showing them how to be followers. We may argue that in setting an example, Jesus was being a leader, but that can turn into a circular argument. Jesus wanted His disciples to be followers who were content to remain that way, allowing Him to be the leader at all times.

And so, we must ask ourselves, how good are we at following? How good are we at following Christ, the Good Shepherd who would have us know His voice (John 10)? How good are we at following others, as long as they don’t tell us to do something contrary to what God would have us do, since those who are leaders over us have been put in place by God Himself (Romans 13)? If we are in a position of leadership, would we voluntarily put ourselves in a position of followership in the same group?

And so, I think leadership is natural, we naturally aspire to be leaders and will try to do so to some extent. Followership is different, it requires abandoning our natural tendency to seek our own aggrandizement and be content to let others get the honors. Followership is painful and takes effort. More often than not, we are unfit to follow.

“Heavenly Father, You have commanded and invited me to follow You. How often I reject this wonderful blessing which you have offered through Jesus Your Son! This I confess and repent of so that Your Holy Spirit may be free to teach me anew what it is to follow You. As I follow You, give me the grace to follow others and submit to them in order that they might better learn to follow You as well. This I pray in Jesus name, Amen.”