Serving God in the Marketplace

When we talk about missionaries we usually think in terms of people who are sent out by a church, church group, or other type of mission-sending agency. But since the early days of the church God has always worked most powerfully through people in their normal work-a-day world. Understand, I believe very much in the concept of missions as we normally think of it. Our family spent a year and a half in East Africa as missionaries for the Church of God (Anderson, IN). We were assigned to Tanzania and that was our primary field of emphasis, but we also lived in Kenya while studying Swahili at the Church of the Province of Kenya guesthouse. I believe in organized, planned, missionary sending ministries. We give our tithes and offerings to make that possible and I hope you do too. The spread of the Gospel throughout the earth depends on our doing this and doing it well and it is the directive of Christ that we do so.

However, I am also convinced that the greatest missionary impact is in the lives of lay people who serve God consistently, day after day in the marketplace of life—the schools, the factories, the retail stores, and every other place you can imagine where God’s people go to earn a living for themselves and their families. There is nothing as life-changing for a non-believer as to see a godly person live a Christ-like life in all the various experiences of the work-a-day world. They see them face tragedy and loss with a grace that is incomprehensible. They see them have fun with no need to get drunk or take recreational drugs. They see Christians get angry without sin. In all these normal life situations, they wonder how they do it. Sometimes they ask.  When the Christian identifies God—Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit—as the source of their strength it is the most powerful witness anyone can ever see. As I said before, it is life-changing!

It is sort of like prayer. Prayer meetings at church are good and we should have them, but even more powerful is for people to “pray without ceasing” by living our lives in the presence of God so that every moment of life is a prayer. Much of the time they are just fleeting prayers “Lord help me!” Or “God give me wisdom.” “Lord what should I say?” “How should I answer?” or, “How do I solve this work or life problem?” or “Thank you Lord for this beautiful day!” And there needs to be those longer personal times alone with God when we spend time in private prayer. But really every moment of every day is a prayer for people who are fully surrendered to God.

In the same way, when we live as Christ-like persons in our work places we are the real missionaries. If you are a salesman, or a janitor, or a stay-at-home mom—a business executive, a police officer or retail clerk—any work that benefits people and somehow makes the world a better place, it can also be a ministry and a mission if it is dedicated to God. A pastor, missionary, or any other ministry professional is no more holy to God than lay persons who serve God as best they can in all the areas of their lives. Any work we do is a ministry or a mission when it helps people and is dedicated to God.

So I praise God for your ministry and your mission! I hope you also give God praise and thankfulness for using you as a … whatever your place of mission happens to be. Being a missionary to a school as a teacher or principle or janitor is just as important to God as being a missionary to Tanzania or Kenya or anywhere else.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Focus 40—a time of prayer and fasting

Congregations across the Church of God will spend forty days of prayer leading up to Easter. Will you join us for those forty days, as we pray for various concerns such as the vitality of our movement, and for our Church of God congregations, missionaries and pastors all over the world? If you do not attend a Church of God congregation, pray for your congregation and denomination. As we do so, we join with Christians around the world who fast and pray during the Lenten season.

It is my custom in my prayer time, to pray for all the saints, as directed by God through the apostle Paul in Ephesians (6:18) (“always keep on praying for all the saints.”) I urge you to also pray for the entire family of God, which includes all the saints of God in and out of every communion throughout the world. Pray we will love each other and will each love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Pray we will be witnesses for our Lord Jesus Christ in all our thoughts, words and behavior, and finally pray we will all be filled with the Holy Spirit of God, living our lives in the awesome power of the Spirit rather then limiting ourselves to our own inadequate human power.

But the primary purpose of this year’s Focus 40 is to pray for those who do not know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. So pray for people you know who do not have a personal relationship with Christ, to experience his salvation for themselves. The goal is for 25,000 people to be saved in Church of God congregations around the world. In whatever church group you worship, I encourage you to pray for similar results

As we do this, I also urge you to also pray for all people on earth who do not know Christ—about 4,666,666,667 (4.6 billion) persons! If you are like me, you can’t even conceive of that many people, much less comprehend how to pray for them. The immensity of those numbers is overwhelming to us but they are not overwhelming to God. When we pray for them all to be saved, they are to us, an incomprehensible mass of humanity, but to God they are individuals whom he loves with a passion, and persons he knows by name. This ministry of prayer is a tool God gave to humanity so we can work together with him to accomplish his marvelous Will—especially the salvation of all humanity.

At this Christmas time let us not forget the reason for Christ’s coming—to proclaim God’s love for all mankind—to bring “peace on earth, good will toward men”. In other words Christ came not only for your salvation and mine, but so the entire world might personally experience the love and peace of God.

As we do so, we strengthen God’s Kingdom locally and world-wide. We draw near to God, individually, congregationally, and altogether as a movement, and we join together in this wonderful work of prayer with all the marvelous family of God throughout the earth.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Jeremiah's Prophecy

In Jeremiah we read a prophecy of the Christ and of the times in which we now live. The key verse is 34, which reads “No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

This is a prophecy of our time—a prophecy of Christ and of the times in which we live—the time from his resurrection to his return in glory. The prophecy has not been fully fulfilled but it is our task (the task of the people of God and our privilege) to help usher in the fullness of the Kingdom of God by the prayers of the saints, the witness of the risen Christ in our lives and in our testimonies, and, by the power of his Spirit fully revealed in the life and witness of the people of God!

Sometimes our hellfire and brimstone preaching sounds as if God is rubbing his hands in glee, thinking about the time when he can cast all those lost sinners into the lake of fire. But God’s word clearly states that his desire is for our salvation and for the salvation of the whole world. The Bible clearly states that hell was prepared, not for people, but for the devil and his demons. It is no place for people and God doesn’t want anyone to go there. Only Satan desires such and sin is the only thing that will put us there—not God.

Jesus asked us to pray for God’s kingdom to come and God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now we know that in heaven everyone loves God and lives to praise him, so if the Lord ’s Prayer is answered, that means the time should come when everyone on earth loves God and serves him with all our hearts. I’m not talking about a future millennial age—I believe this is a prophecy for this present age.

The Jeremiah prophecy in chapter 31 verses 31-34 and especially verse 34, speaks of a time when everyone will know the Lord, when God will forgive our wickedness and no longer remember our sins. This can be nothing else but a prophecy of the Christ and his present kingdom.

It would appear that God’s heart is blessed more by vibrant faith than anything else and I think the reason is that it is God’s plan, through the faith, prayers, and witness of his people, to fulfill the kingdom as he saves lost souls through Christ and in so doing, transforms society, one life at a time. He is doing that now, all over the world! What a marvelous and exciting time we live in!

Just as God has poured out his Spirit into the lives of his people who have been saved through faith in Christ, he wants this same blessing for every human being on the face of the earth. God prophesied it long ago through Jeremiah and it is our glorious privilege to live in the time when the prophecy is being fulfilled. But it is not happening as fast as it ought to be!

It is not only our privilege, but our task, and our calling, to pray, as Jesus taught us, for God’s kingdom to come and God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. It is our privilege to be Christ’s witnesses as we live transformed by his Spirit to do good works and thus glorify our Father in heaven.

I am told approximately one-third of the people on our planet are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is marvelous when you think that Jesus began with twelve not very competent disciples only about 2,000 years ago! But it’s not good enough! God loves everyone on earth! May the prophecy of Jeremiah be fulfilled in our day and may we each be privileged to join God in what he is doing and hopefully, see this prophecy fulfilled in our lifetimes!

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Holy Week Musings

As we move through what we call Holy Week, we may ask ourselves, why would we call this “Holy Week”? It was the week during which the holy Son of God was crucified by unspeakable evil on a cruel cross in the most horrific crime ever committed in the life of our planet. Shouldn’t we call it “Evil Week”?

No we shouldn’t. Because this is the week that goodness, or holiness triumphed over evil. It was a week of cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil—and righteousness prevailed totally and completely. Evil has forever been condemned to second place in the power forces of world domination.

One purpose of Holy Week is to help us remember that good did triumph over evil in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ and because of that we do two things. First, those of us who have accepted Christ’s death on the cross by faith experience the joy of new life personally and communally, as we worship and work individually, and together with our fellow Christians, locally and around the world, to help Him make the world better.

That’s actually the second thing we do—we make the world better. This is found in John 10:10(NIV) where Jesus said, “The thief came only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” As people of God we cooperate with Jesus in what he came to do. His work on the cross was a complete work, but the results are seen incrementally as lives are transformed by the power of the Gospel of Christ working in individual hearts. This personal transformation, multiplied over and over again brings an amazing transformation to society that is the Divine plan.

So during Holy Week we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, proof of the greatest victory the world has ever known—a victory that makes possible ever more victories on top of victories. This wonderful victorious life of triumph over evil will continue and increase as long as this world exists and then will continue in heaven for eternity.

So this Holy Week and every resurrection Sunday of our lives we celebrate the victory of good over evil in the person Jesus Christ and in every person who lives a life redeemed by him and surrendered to the power of his Spirit living in us.

“Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!”

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Letter to a Prisoner. .

Previously published Saturday, March 7, 2009, in the
Herald-Palladium newspaper column: Insights, at:
http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2009/03/07/features/295090.txt

Dear Friend,

I compliment you on the interesting letter you wrote and your honesty about your life situation. All of us make mistakes, so you are not alone. I can’t imagine how difficult prison must be, but I rejoice in your desire to improve.

The fact you made mistakes and have sin in your life doesn’t mean you are not acceptable to God. It means you need God’s help. And God wants so much to help that he sent his son Jesus, to die for us. You said you’re trying to improve your life. I believe the best way to improve our situation is to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, then experience God’s love as His beloved children!

Two Bible versed in John’s Gospel (3:16-17) make this clear. These verses show God loves us and Jesus did not come to condemn, but to save. We all have things in our lives that deserve condemnation, but that is not what Jesus is about. He is about forgiveness. He came to save the world, but he also came to save you. Every one of us could read these verses like this:
16"For God so loved me that he gave his one and only Son, that if I believe in him I will not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn me, but to save me through him.”

You wrote you feel “almost lost”. Really, all of us are lost when we don’t know Christ as Savior. The only solution is this spiritual birth, in which every other Christian on earth becomes your brother or sister in Christ. You find both yourself and a new family.

This spiritual birth comes when we admit our sin to God, are sorry for that sin and ask God to forgive us. In Romans (3:22-24), the Bible says:
"22God treats everyone alike. He accepts people only because they have faith in Jesus Christ. 23All of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. 24But God treats us much better than we deserve, and because of Christ Jesus, he freely accepts us and sets us free from our sins." (Contemporary English Version)

You asked about joining a church. I believe there is only one church—God’s church. Local churches and church groups have many different names, but if they teach salvation by faith in Christ, they are part of God’s one true church. We all become members in this universal church by that spiritual birth called faith in Jesus Christ. Then you find a local church in which to worship and serve.

Jesus tells us in John 3:3 “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Here is a prayer you can pray to be sure you have experienced this spiritual birth. God is with you and he understands the language of the heart, so when you pray in sincere faith, He will hear. If you are ready to make this decision, pray this prayer (either silently or aloud):

Heavenly Father, I am a sinner. I have done much wrong, and am truly sorry. I want to reject sin and be saved by faith in your son Jesus Christ.
Lord Jesus, I believe it is only by faith in you I can be saved. You are God’s Son and Savior of the world. Please come into my heart and cleanse me of all sin. I accept you as my Savior and with your help I’ll do my best to serve you all my remaining life. Amen.

If you prayed sincerely and believe Christ is not only Savior of the world, but your personal Savior, you are born spiritually as a child of God and are a member of his universal church. Welcome! Find another Christian and tell them you’re in the family too.

Or, find someone who is not yet a Christian and invite them into the family!

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Celebrating the "Most-Christian" Era . . .

I don’t know if he was quoting someone else or if it was his own creation, but the speaker said “There are only two ministry experiences in this post-Christendom era: 1. slow death 2. deep change.”

From my experience, I’m convinced the two ministry experiences have always been slow death or deep change. It was true when Jesus walked the earth in human flesh as a God-man and it is still true today as he walks the earth in human flesh as the eternal transformer of mankind. The worst thing that can happen to any Christian at any stage of development is to think we have finished with change. When we stop changing we lose the vitality of our relationship with Christ because he never stops changing us as long as the relationship is real and growing. When we stop being changed by our relationship with him we can be sure he has ceased to be Lord and Master, otherwise he always transforms us into his likeness. When we are totally surrendered to Christ and living in the power of his Spirit, we are “complete in him” (Colossians 2:10) but Christ will continue to transform us more and more into his image as long as we live in this world if we live in a state of full surrender.

What troubled me most, was the implication that we live in a post-Christian era. Now, notice he did not say “post-Christian” but “post-Christendom”. There is a huge difference and I’m sure the phrase was intentional. Perhaps he used that phrase because he, like myself, believes the best of the Christian era is not past but future, even though, as we all know, it will continue to be different in the future than it has been in the past.

I just “Googled” “Post-Christian” at fifty hits per page and got twelve pages or 600 hits. As you can imagine, I didn’t read them all, but skimming through the info I saw some heralding the demise of Christianity—some with glee and some with sorrow. Some dealt with how to witness for Christ in a Post-Christian world. I’m sure all have good thoughts, but I won’t accept the idea of a Post-Christian world until Christ returns. Until then, he will continue to work in the hearts and lives of those who allow him to work, he will continue to be victorious, and not only the individual people, but the world will continue to become more Christ-like.

Jesus taught us to pray to the Father “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) Surely we don’t believe that was a prayer he doesn’t expect to answer in the affirmative? Surely it is not that he wants God’s kingdom to come in this world, but isn’t able to accomplish it?

As for me, I believe we are in the “Most Christian” era the world has ever seen. Perhaps this time is what Christ saw in his mind when said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.” —John 14:12 (NLT)

I'm Rick Blumenberg,
And that's My View from Tanner Creek.