On Sunday, September 27 I shared my final Sunday service with New Hope Community Church as their pastor. What follows is a restatement of my final message to them. It is a shorter version with far less explaining, but it is an expression of the heart of my desire for the church I have and will continue to dearly love.
You have everything you need for life and godliness. God has granted it to you. You have enough. As I end my time as pastor among you, I do so knowing that I have ever been an under-shepherd, serving at the pleasure of your true Shepherd, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, our resurrected Champion and undisputed Sovereign. I leave you with a peace in my heart that flows from the confidence that our Chief Shepherd will never leave you nor forsake you. He has chosen for us what I would not have chosen for us, but I am convinced that His is the greater vision, wisdom, and judgment, so I step out in trust with you into His mysterious calling.
As I have said each week over the last several years: “You are, before anything in your lives, disciples of Jesus Christ.” Because of this, your choice to gather in the name of Jesus and to associate yourselves with one another around Him makes you His church. Consequently, you have been given by your Master certain necessary and enduring gifts: His Word, His Spirit, and His Body. These gifts, graciously given, gratefully received, and humbly utilized, are all that are required for you to thrive and powerfully act in this struggling community and faltering world. Though you will be without a professional pastor on staff, you will not be without any of these great and powerful gifts. You have the Word of your Master freely available to you always. You have the Holy Spirit of your Master dwelling in your very flesh and actively moving among you to accomplish His purposes. You have one another, saints of various maturities, experiences, and points of view who are bound together by your common allegiance to Someone who is greater than all of your differences.
Whatever you may lack, you do not lack anything that is necessary for your powerful and effective participation in God’s great kingdom work here and now. Do not be wooed by the world’s erroneous and dangerous assumptions about what is possible, what is necessary, and what is reasonable. Do not be led into the folly of trusting in the fleshly and mortal resources of earth. You belong to a Kingdom which has its seat of power in Heaven itself, which is ruled by a transcendent and yet imminent Ruler with whom nothing is impossible and who needs no permission from anyone to act. His are all the resources of this universe, and those are the very resources He delights to lavish on His faithful servants for the sake of His mission and purpose.
Are you tempted to put the great kingdom work of this church on hold until a new pastor is secured? Are you flirting with the idea of pouring all your attention and effort into that pursuit? I beg you: resist that temptation and reject that attractive idea! Carry on in the work of your Master, for He is still among you and always will be. Remember His words to His servants: “And I am with you always (lit. ‘all the days’) even until the end of the age.” Everything you need to be great is already yours! Everything you need to accomplish His great and glorious work is already available to you!
His Word is yours.
His Spirit is yours.
His Body is yours.
God willing, you will soon have a full-time pastor on staff to lead you as a community of disciples. I will continue to pray that our Father provides this for you - and quickly. But I have a more pressing prayer. That prayer is that in the time between this moment and that, you will - each of you - take seriously these gifts that have been given to you and give yourselves wholly to the mission. If you will, the man who comes to lead you will blessed. If you will, you will be blessed. If you will, the community to which you belong will be blessed.
The kingdom of light and life will advance even as the kingdom of darkness retreats.
The spiritual chains of those now bound will be loosened and then finally broken by the power of our Master who moves through His servants.
The eyes of those now spiritually blind will be opened so that they can see the glory, beauty, and goodness of our Father, our Master and the Spirit.
The spiritual hunger of those now starving will be satisfied by the life-giving truth and love of the man Jesus.
Mortal hands will reach out to serve, but they will be immortal hands that take hold of darkened and hardened hearts.
Mortal tongues will dare to speak, but it will be the Immortal One who calls the lost to come home.
Mortal feet will walk, but it will be the Immortal One running to meet the homeward-bound child who is still a far way off.
Whom do you need to be changed? You have Him.
Whom do you need to be full of joy? You have Him.
Whom do you need to teach you and train you to be like Himself? You have Him.
You have Him, and so everything is yours. You do not need to slow down. You do not need to stop. No, you need only to press forward toward the prize to which our Father has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus. As individuals, as families and as a community, seek Jesus, serve Jesus, and watch Jesus move.
He is alive. He is strong, wise, and good. He is among you, and He intends to move through you. May His ever be the face on which you gaze, the voice that fills your ears, the hands that hold you up, and Kingdom in which you thrive.
May it be so because you are my dearly beloved, and, more importantly, you are, before anything in your lives, disciples of Jesus Christ. Amen.
