40 Days of cHesed—Day 34

Day 34 Thinking Like a Servant

What’s the difference between acting like a servant and thinking like a servant? Well, there could be a lot of difference—or there could be no difference at all. What do you think?

Acting like a servant can become rote—just another habit—if we don’t also start thinking like a servant. Thinking like a servant is a matter of discipline. With the proper discipline, service that has become rote becomes service that is excellent! But how do we discipline ourselves—and each other—to think in such a way that we actually become excellent servants?

Say, the word “thinking” keeps popping up. Thinking. Really acting like an excellent servant requires excellent thinking. Does that seem too obvious? That may be part of the problem. [Alan Hirsch says that we must act our way into a new way of thinking. Read his important blog post, please. I totally agree...and hesed is that way!]

M. Scott Peck, M.D., in The Road Less Traveled & Beyond, entitled the first chapter Thinking. Our reluctance to stop and think about what we believe—on any given topic, much less our purpose in life—is not just a problem. According to Dr. Peck, it is the problem.

During the past 33 days, we have been attempting to provide you with the core knowledge you need in order to think like a servant. We’ve asked you to spend a lot of time reading and thinking your way through 1 John. We’ve asked you to think every day about your intimate friendship with God. And we have been challenging you to think in different images than what may be familiar to you.

This kind of thinking is part of what it means to love God with all of your mind. Love him enough to slow down and listen carefully to his Word. Love him enough to process your thoughts with him. Love him enough to listen to the Holy Spirit. Love him enough to listen to your brothers and sisters—for as long as it takes to understand each other.

Well, that sounds like a lot of work! Exactly!

Discipline of any kind requires a lot of work. Excellent thinking requires more work than any other discipline. This is true because thinking is complex. It is a process—rarely a simple process—that leads us to some intended result. In our case, it will lead us to understanding what on earth we’re here for!

If we take shortcuts in the process, we do get somewhere. We just may not get where we wanted to go. This is what we mean when we speak of the importance of proper focus during target practice. Better the outer edge of the right target than the bull’s eye of the wrong target! Matthew 25:31-46 and Luke 13:22-30 are striking examples Jesus gave us of this problem.

Thinking on purpose takes work—the consequences of not thinking on purpose are unacceptable.

Today’s Look at 1 John

Read 1 John 4:7-21. While you’re reading, think about the depths of God’s love!

Keep Breathing!

Breathe in God’s love—exhale your fears! Take every joy or concern (for ourselves or for others) to God first, so that he can share the moment, begin to heal the suffering, or encourage steadfastness.

40 Days of cHesed—Day 33

Day 33 How Real Servants Act

The only way to know how real servants act is to actually see them in action. When most of the activity takes place out of our personal view, we can sometimes forget everything that is going on.

If we are going to accept our assignment, unwrap our gifts and use them to accomplish God’s purpose, we’ve got to get a view of the bigger picture.

Have you stopped to think about all those tasks on the carrier HESED? Before we wonder about the assignment we want, let’s spend some time observing those crew members serving right now.

Carrier Activity	Observations
Bridge	Huge responsibilities require great skill, discipline and constant communication. Very high stress assignment. Teamwork.
Flight deck	Everyone performs a critical part, from pilots to signalmen. Procedures must be followed to the letter to ensure success. Very high stress assignment. Teamwork.
Search and Rescue	The job is different with each day, with each vessel and crew and with each group of individuals rescued. Can be high stress or can be very pleasant—depending on conditions. Teamwork.
Maintenance Deck/Hangars	Everyone performs a critical part, to ensure the planes are in good repair and flight ready. Procedures must be followed to the letter to ensure success. High stress assignment. Teamwork.
Engineering/ Propulsion	Highly technical tasks requiring precision planning and excellent communication skills—mistakes here can be fatal. Teamwork.
Materiel	Lots of details coordinated to ensure availability of supplies. Some hazardous materials, but mostly common supplies. Teamwork.
Mess Hall	Relaxed atmosphere between those serving and those eating. Some of the best times of the day spent here. Teamwork.
Galley	Feeding up to 5,000 people three meals a day takes lots of work—and creativity, but these folks seem to enjoy it. Teamwork.
Sick Bay	Duties can be light or heavy, depending on number/condition of newly rescued persons and crew injuries. Staff kind and gentle. Teamwork.
Training Centers/ meeting rooms	Instructors on wide variety of topics teaching frequently—can be intensive. Good interaction with students enjoyable for all. Teamwork.
Recreation Centers	Teamwork. Relaxed atmosphere with only friendly competition. 
Living Quarters	Interpersonal relationships central—can be stressful. Teamwork.
Laundry	Lots to do all the time here. Attention to detail important. Teamwork.

As you look over these descriptions, do you notice anything they share in common? Well, they all provide some kind of service that supports the mission. They all have to give and receive help from each other—teamwork. And they all are responsible to initiate proper actions with proper attitudes.

Hey…does that sound familiar?

It should. Serve, submit and lead are the three kinds of actions that represent covenant keeping. And the HMS HESED is on a mission of covenant keeping: the reconciliation of all humanity with God and with each other.

The only way to accomplish the mission is if the crew of the HESED faithfully practices hesed.

Today’s Look at 1 John

Read 1 John 4:7-21. While you’re reading, consider the impact to the HESED if her crew said they were committed to the team but were unwilling to offer each other help when actually needed.

Keep Breathing!

Boy, stretching isn’t always pleasant! Sometimes it hurts to stretch tight and tired muscles. Sometimes we’d rather whine about things than take the right actions.

The coach says “Time for another cleansing breath.” As you exhale, remember to stretch out and take every joy or concern (for ourselves or for others) to God first, so that he can share the moment, begin to heal the suffering, or encourage steadfastness. Thank God for his love—and ask him to stretch you so you will consistently love your brothers and sisters.

40 Days of cHesed—Day 32

Day 32 Using What God Gave You

If you looked up yesterday’s three scripture references for grace gifts, you would have found these descriptions (listed here in alphabetical order): apostleship, discernment of spirits, evangelism, exhorting, faith, giving, government (leading), healing, interpretation (of tongues), miracles, pastoring, prophecy, serving (helps), showing mercy, teaching, tongues, word of knowledge and word of wisdom.

Most grace gifts fall generally into one of these categories. Sometimes gifts appear to be given permanently. Other times, the Spirit gives us a gift to help in a unique circumstance for a limited time. It is up to the Spirit which gifts are given, to whom, and for how long. They are tools for doing God’s work. They are privilege for purpose. They are not ways to judge superior spirituality. They are not to be sources of personal pride, idolizing or envy. Remember Day 7: all the gifts come from God; all the glory goes to God!

But the presence or absence of any particular grace gift does not change our obligation to keep covenant. Grace gifts give an ability beyond one’s talent to serve the Covenant Community in those areas. But no matter what our grace gift(s) may be, we all are to have faith, to show mercy, to give generously, to share the Gospel, to exhort one another, to speak God’s truth, to shepherd God’s sheep, to lead and influence…you get the idea? The point here is not either/or; it is both/and!

OK, flip back to Day 29 and take a look at the chart of major tasks needed for our carrier to function. Spend a minute or two thinking about the answers to these three questions:

1. Which tasks do you think you could feel comfortable doing right now—no training?

2. Which tasks provide some kind of service for everyone on the carrier?

3. What purpose is listed as primary in the majority of tasks?

For most of you, the answer to all these questions will have something to do with ministry. That’s because there are so many simple forms of ministry—which anyone can do with little or no training. And everyone benefits directly from at least some of these forms of ministry. That’s why ministry is shown as the primary purpose in so many of the tasks necessary for carrier life!

Everyone may undergo the various tests for aptitude and interest before intensive training and eventual assignment. But there’s no excuse for not finding a way to pitch in and help out right now.

Today’s Look at 1 John

Read 1 John 4:7-21. While you’re reading, look at the number of descriptions John gives for love.

Keep Breathing!

You’ve been working hard—don’t forget to stop and stretch. Take every joy or concern to God first, so that he can share the moment, begin to heal the suffering, or encourage steadfastness. Thank him for his grace gifts. Ask him to show you how to love by using those gifts in ministry.

40 Days of cHesed—Day 31

Day 31 Understanding Your Shape

Yesterday we saw that everyone born again into God’s family receives his Holy Spirit as a gift of community relationship. Today we’re going to look at the gifts the Holy Spirit gives us for ministry. We want to understand the shape into which God is molding us for service!

Back on Day 22 we learned that the Greek word charis (grace) was the expression of loyal favor due between covenant partners. Well, charismata mean grace gifts—so these gifts of the Holy Spirit are another form of God’s hesed toward us. The Spirit gives us these grace gifts (without bias toward gender, age, race, social status, ability or maturity) to help us keep covenant—giving us knowledge and/or abilities needed to do whatever task he assigns to us—molding us and shaping us to that task.

We could spend an entire post on these grace gifts—what we call spiritual gifts. But today we just want you to know that there are three places in the New Testament where Paul specifically identifies grace gifts: Romans 12:3-8, I Corinthians 12:8-10, 28-30 and Ephesians 4:11. Addressed to three different audiences, they aren’t meant to be exhaustive lists—or they would be identical. They are representative of the kinds of gifts necessary for keeping covenant. (Let’s not limit what the Spirit can do to just what is contained in these lists!)

So, how do we learn to understand and make use of these gifts? There are many systems developed to help persons identify and utilize their grace gifts. I’ve not been particularly happy with any one (but I’m looking forward to what AbbE/FuturistGuy/Brad Sargent has to say in his new course.) In the meantime, use these basic principles of discovery:

1. Start by asking the Father where he wants you to use your gifts and abilities in ministry.

2. Study the lists given by Paul. Make sure you know what the gifts mean. Study each different gift to see how it was exercised in the early church.

3. Get busy in ministry right where you are. You might want to try a number of different activities in order to see if you have any special draw to any of them.

4. Identify those areas of ministry that match any deep desires in your heart. These will be activities that energize and inspire you rather than drain and bore you. Remember that there is no right or wrong here. All service carries equal honor and merit in God’s eyes.

5. Choose one area of service (to start) that energizes and inspires you – and dedicate yourself to developing it. Ask other mature brothers and sisters to help you. They may help confirm your choice – or encourage you to keep investigating.

Today’s Look at 1 John

Read 1 John 4:7-21. While you’re reading, look for love as an attitude—but also for love as an action. (Hint: look for the clue words “one another.”)

Keep Breathing!

Cool down from this workout by taking everything to God first, so that he can share the moment, begin to heal the suffering, or encourage steadfastness. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you your gift(s) for ministry.

40 Days of cHesed—Day 30

Day 30 Shaped for Serving God

God made us with a purpose in mind—remember? We are meant to live with him in authentic community and help him reconcile the rest of the world.

The first step is to accept the privilege of adoption. The second step is to realize privilege is given to accomplish the purpose. If we abandon the purpose, expect the privilege to be taken away! If you jump back into the water, you can’t continue to live on the HESED!

Continuing with our carrier analogy of the covenant community, did you notice the sheer number of activities required for our carrier’s mission to be accomplished? We didn’t even get down to identifying the individual jobs—we’ll let you use your imagination!

When you have that many different jobs, it requires an amazingly diverse work force. And that is just what God created in humanity—an amazingly diverse work force. So diverse, in fact, that each one of us is absolutely unique. There will never be a repeat of any of us! No exact match of desires, abilities, personality or experiences. (We call these gifts of common grace—receive from our parent’s genes, as created by God, reflecting God’s image in us as creative and imaginative.)

Each unique person is a gift from God to the carrier community—to help accomplish the mission. If that gift is not opened, nurtured and encouraged, no other individual will be able to bring that same gift to the mission—the community suffers its loss. Another member of the crew may be called upon to fill the void at the functional level, but it won’t be the same. No one else can do what you can do the way you can do it—no one.

But there’s more! We are a unique gift to the world when we are born, yes. But when we are born again into God’s family, we are born into a spiritual family. And there are spiritual gifts waiting for us to open and use for serving God in ministry.

The first spiritual gift is the gift of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. (See Ephesians 4:7 and 1 Corinthians 12:7.) Everyone receives this gift—it is no different from one person to another. That is how God helps us keep unified—we trust that the truth God reveals through the Holy Spirit will bring harmony.

We’ll look at other gifts of the Holy Spirit tomorrow. Right now, remember that God shapes us all—as the potter shapes the clay into useful pots. Some of our shape depends on the kind of clay we are. The rest of our shape depends on how willing we are to let God mold us!

Today’s Look at 1 John

Read 1 John 4:7-21. While you’re reading, notice the most important attitude necessary for harmony and success on board the HESED—you can’t miss it!

Keep Breathing!

Take a nice, slow stretch—nothing fast. Keep taking every joy or concern we have (for ourselves or for others) to God first, so that he can share the moment, begin to heal the suffering, or encourage steadfastness. Thank him for his amazing love and for the gift of his Holy Spirit living in your heart.

The HMS HESED as Missional Order

It was striking to me, as I was preparing my 40 Days of cHesed posts this week, that the image God gave me (back in the summer of 2003) of an aircraft carrier is so very much like a missional order ... like CovenantClusters.

The thing that is most striking to me is that the HESED is a ship where you live and serve ... not a place you go to serve. But that ship is on the move ... is in not anchored in a harbor.

So it is with the Body of Christ. It is not a sacred place, but a sacred people ... making sacred each place where they are.

...this is a powerful reminder to me of many things -- not the least of which is that God sometimes tells me things in my "now" that I won't really make complete sense until years later. Very much like seed planting, this. God planted a seed that was a pretty little plant six years ago ... but it is turning out to be something much more than I thought.

How very much like Sarayu....

40 Days of cHesed—Day 29

WEEK 5 – Ministry: You Were Shaped For Serving God

[Again, remember that our weeks will be off, since we're working on a five day week instead of seven days.]

Day 29 Accepting Your Assignment

In the beginning God created…. At that moment, an amazing journey began. A difficult journey full of adventure and wonder, discovery and invention, blessing and victory, as well as rejection and discouragement. We call that journey life.

[When I was teaching at my CLB, I frequently used the ocean as an image of life’s journey. God’s new covenant and its community are represented by an amazing aircraft carrier—the HMS HESED. While it is not, um, watertight, I hope that some might find it to be a helpful image in fleshing out this theme. My apologies to my pacifist friends….]

The Bible is full of images used to help us understand our relationship with God and each other.

• There is the image of a bride and bridegroom—in the Old Testament, it was Israel and God; in the New Testament it is the Church and Christ.

• There is the image of a shepherd and a flock of sheep—with God as shepherd to Israel in the Old Testament and Jesus Christ as shepherd/Messiah in the New Testament.

• There is the image of a vine and its fruit-producing branches—Jesus called himself the vine and us the branches. Any vine that wants to produce fruit must remain attached to the vine. Any branch that does not produce fruit is pruned away.

• There is the image of the church as a body—to show us our interconnectedness. (See chapters 12 and 13 of 1 Corinthians.)

You’re getting the picture, aren’t you? Why are there so many images used to try to say the same thing? Well, God has been telling a single story—a story of covenant relationship. But he has been telling it to many people over a long period of time and in many different cultural settings. God wants to be sure that we get the point, and so he uses images that will help us understand.

One of the most important jobs of those who teach God’s truth is making it real to the listeners. We must teach the truth, but in a way that will grip the hearts and minds of the listeners as the Prophets did in the Old Testament and Jesus (and the Apostles) did in the New Testament.

The Christian life is often referred to as a battle—with weapons and armor—so we’re going to update a number of the images used in the New Testament through our analogy of a battle carrier. For our last few days, we’re going to tour this amazing ship, take a look at its mission and crew, and get a taste of carrier life.

An aircraft carrier is like a small city—up to 5,000 on board! What kinds of activities happen on the HESED? Everything! Carrier life is a huge effort dedicated to accomplishing the mission…and everyone has an assignment!

Let’s look at the following chart, which shows the major areas of activity. Notice is that every area of activity includes every purpose in its activities. The purposes in bold italics are primary.

Carrier Activity/Function	Primary Purposes
Bridge—command center: Captain’s post, with radar, navigation and communications	Prayer/Worship/Fellowship/ Discipleship/Ministry/Mission
Flight deck—where up to 100 aircraft are catapulted off and caught by tail hook wires as they take off and land from their continuous missions defending the fleet and collecting intelligence 24/7/365	The Prayer Warriors: Prayer/Worship/Fellowship/ Discipleship/Ministry/Mission The Front Line of the Battle
Search and Rescue—our fleet of vessels rescuing people from the sea and recruiting them to join our crew (major part of the mission)	Prayer/Worship/Fellowship/ Discipleship/Ministry/Mission The Front Line of the Battle
Maintenance Deck and Hangars—where the planes are kept and prepared for their missions	Prayer/Worship/Fellowship/ Discipleship/Ministry/Mission
Engineering/Propulsion—where technical experts keep our technology/tools on the cutting edge	Prayer/Worship/Fellowship/ Discipleship/Ministry/Mission
Materiel—where equipment and supplies are purchased, stored and distributed to meet needs	Prayer/Worship/Fellowship/ Discipleship/Ministry/Mission
Mess Hall—where food service is offered and meals are shared	Prayer/Worship/Fellowship/ Discipleship/Ministry/Mission
Galley—where food is stored and prepared for service in the Mess Hall	Prayer/Worship/Fellowship/ Discipleship/Ministry/Mission
Sick Bay—where sick and wounded crew and civilians are treated and restored to health	Prayer/Worship/Fellowship/ Discipleship/Ministry/Mission
Training Centers/meeting rooms—where crew and civilians receive on-going training for ministry	Prayer/Worship/Fellowship/ Discipleship/Ministry/Mission
Recreation Centers—where crew and civilians work out, relax and refresh themselves	Prayer/Worship/Fellowship/ Discipleship/Ministry/Mission
Living Quarters—where crew and civilians sleep and dress and have personal space: REST	Prayer/Worship/Fellowship/ Discipleship/Ministry/Mission
Laundry—where all the wet and soiled clothes (crew and civilian) are cleaned and repaired	Prayer/Worship/Fellowship/ Discipleship/Ministry/Mission

Today’s Look at 1 John

How is it going—developing the habit of reading the Bible a passage at a time? We hope you will be inspired to use this method for all your Bible study, not just our study of 1 John!

Read 1 John 4:7-21. While you’re reading, think about the amazing, comprehensive mission of the HMS HESED.

Getting In Shape

Week five is here and we’re miles down the road. Stop and take a look back. Can you see how far you’ve come? Have you noticed that, when you are getting into the rider’s seat behind the Holy Spirit every day, you are also spending the day with him and including him in all you do? The level of intimacy in your relationship is growing – your blood is getting more oxygenated – and you can go farther than you have been able to go before. And it’s not as exhausting. You’re building spiritual muscle – habits are beginning to be formed. You are being transformed.

But more than that, have you noticed your life is becoming more of him including you in what he’s doing? You’re starting to let the truth sink in – it’s all about God! Keep it up. You’re doing great!

But we’re not finished yet – and Scripture encourages us to remember that the goal is still ahead of us. Leaving the past in the past, we must continue living (pedaling) in the present moving forward to embrace our future.

When something big happens for you – whether happy or sad – whom do you want right there with you? Your parents or spouse or siblings or friends? Absolutely! Why do you think that is? Because we were not meant to “do life” alone. We were created to be interdependent – to need others. We need to share. But we live in a time and place where we do not always feel free to share. It may not feel safe. Or we may spend too much time “sharing”—especially about other people’s stuff. How do we get the right balance?

Last week we really worked our spiritual muscles. This week, we’re going to stretch them out so we remain limber and not get stiff and risk injury. We are going to do that by taking every joy or concern (for ourselves or for others) to God first, so that he can share the moment, begin to heal the suffering, or encourage steadfastness.

We don’t spend our entire lives on the road. God knows the value of rest. So when you pry yourself off the seat at the end of a long ride, there’s stuff to process:

• The amazing things you saw and experienced.

• The saddle soreness that makes you walk a little funny and sit down very gingerly.

• The questions in your mind: “Did we get as far as we planned?” “What’s for dinner?” “What’s the plan for tomorrow.”

So, before you pick up the phone or walk down the hall to talk with someone else to process your stuff, lean over and let God put his arm around you. Tell him your stuff first. It will mean a lot to God. And then you’ll have a better sense of what stuff to share with the other people in your life – and what stuff to leave with God alone.