More Wisdom from Dietrich Bonhoeffer

When another Christian falls into obvious sin, an admonition is imperative, because God’s Word demands it. 

The practice of discipline in the community of faith begins with friends who are close to one another. Words of admonition and reproach must be risked when a lapse from God’s Word in doctrine or life endangers a community that lives together, and with it the whole community of faith. Nothing can be more cruel than that leniency which abandons others to their sin. Nothing can be more compassionate than that severe reprimand which calls another Christian in one’s community back from the path of sin. 

When we allow nothing but God’s Word to stand between us, judging and helping, it is a service of mercy, an ultimate offer of genuine community. Then it is not we who are judging; God alone judges, and God’s judgment is helpful and healing.

My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit 

should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Galatians 6:1

Restore us again, O God of our salvation,

and put away your indignation toward us. Psalm 85:4

From 40-Day Journey With Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Copyright © 2007 Augsburg Books

The Christian's Real Safety

"The Christian's real safety is not in the absence of danger 

but in the presence of a Protector."

A few weeks ago some missionary friends returned to their Central America field after a short furlough. On the three-hour drive, somewhere between the airport and home, gunshots forced them to pull over. They and the other missionary family, also just returning to the field, were threatened, tied up and separated - men from the women and children. All of their belongings were searched and everything of value was taken - a laptop, clothes, home school materials, everything, right down to wedding rings. They were finally released unharmed - very much sobered by what had just happened but also rejoicing that what might have happened did not.

Some time ago a missionary wrote: "Our security meeting today with 30 mission leaders was a time of prayer, many tears, and rejoicing to see God working in spite of the danger here. However, it has been confirmed that ours is the most violent country in the world. The crime, per capita, is eight times that of the United States. North Americans still are a real target. The guerrillas have increased attacks and are focusing on our city . . . We have learned that the MK school where our children attend is under guerrilla surveillance."

With this in mind I began to think of all the missionaries I know or have known that have faced great dangers or difficulties. 

• Some, with their children are in actual physical danger. 
• Others have experienced serious automobile accidents, physical injury, or life threatening sickness - often with only prehistoric treatment (as one missionary described it). 
• Some have seen spiritual children and whole churches - a whole lifetime of work - destroyed by an attractive but false gospel. 
• And there are always the more personal, quiet tests and trials.  

The list goes on and it's a long one but in all of this - for the servant of Christ - there is peace, rest, security.

Our hymns and gospel songs speak of it:  "The Lord's our Rock in Him we hide; a shelter in the time of storm." Or, Till the Storm Passes By - "In the dark of the midnight have I oft hid my face, While the storms howl above me, And there's no hiding place. In the crash of the thunder, precious Lord hear my cry, 'Keep me safe till the storm passes by.'"

The Scriptures take up this theme time and time again: Isaiah wrote, "For you have been a . . . strength to the needy in distress, a refuge from the storm" (25:4). We read in Proverbs that, "The fear of man brings a snare but whoever puts his trust in the Lord will be safe." And here, to be safe literally means, "set on high"; in one translation, "inaccessibly high" (29:25). The write of Hebrews quotes the Old Testament: "He has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' So that we may boldly say, 'The Lord is my Helper, and I will not fear what man can do unto me'" (Hebrews 13:5b, 6).

The missionary's letter went on to ask: "Are we ending our mission here?" The answer: "No. We're just beginning."

He's not in denial. There's no boasting here; nothing cavalier. He says this with confidence because,

"The Christian's real safety is not in the absence of danger 

but in the presence of a Protector."

Self-Discipline Serves the Community

For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 

so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, 

and individually we are members one of another. Romans 12:4-5

Every act of self-discipline by a Christian is also a service to the community. Conversely, there is no sin in thought, word, or deed, no matter how personal or secret, that does not harm the whole community. 

When the cause of an illness gets into one’s body, whether or not anyone knows where it comes from, or in what member it has lodged, the body is made ill. This is the appropriate metaphor for the Christian community. Every member serves the whole body, contributing either to its health or to its ruin, for we are members of one body not only when we want to be, but in our whole existence. 

This is not a theory, but a spiritual reality that is often experienced in the Christian community with shocking clarity, sometimes destructively and sometimes beneficially. - Bonhoeffer

Tozer on Pastoral Ministry: A Shaky Foundation

Thus says the Lord: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me...." —Jeremiah 9:23-24

It is true that much church activity is thrown back upon a shaky foundation of psychology and natural talents. It is sad but true that many a mother-in-law is actually praying that her handsome son-in-law may be called to preach because "he would have such a marvelous pulpit presence."

We live in a day when charm is supposed to cover almost the entire multitude of sins. Charm has taken a great place in religious expression. I am convinced that our Lord expects us to be tough enough and cynical enough to recognize all of this that pleases the unthinking in our churches: the charm stuff, the stage presence in the pulpit, the golden qualities of voice....

I feel sorry for the church that decides to call a pastor because "his personality simply sparkles!" I have watched quite a few of those sparklers through the years. In reality, as every kid knows at Fourth of July time, sparklers can be an excitement in the neighborhood—but only for about one minute! Then you are left holding a hot stick that quickly cools off in your hand. Tragedy in the Church: The Missing Gifts, 32-33.

From "The Words And Wisdom Of Dietrich Bonhoeffer"

Do not worry! 

Earthly goods deceive the human heart into believing that they give it security and freedom from worry. But in truth, they are what cause anxiety. The heart which clings to goods receives with them the choking burden of worry. Worry collects treasures, and treasures produce more worries. We desire to secure our lives with earthly goods; we want our worrying to make us worry-free, but the truth is the opposite. The chains which bind us to earthly goods, the clutches which hold the goods tight, are themselves worries.

Abuse of earthly goods consists of using them as a security for the next day. Worry is always directed toward tomorrow. But the goods are intended only for today in the strictest sense. It is our securing things for tomorrow which makes us so insecure today. It is enough that each day should have its own troubles. Only those who put tomorrow completely into God’s hand and receive fully today what they need for their lives are really secure.

Receiving daily liberates me from tomorrow.

Don’t Complicate the "Missionary Call"

by David Sitton

I was never called to be a missionary, nor was I drafted. I volunteered. No special call was needed. I chose to go; I wanted to go; I was compelled to go. And where I go is always determined by an open Bible and a stretched-out map of the regions where Christ is still unknown and un-praised!

I chuckle when I hear missionaries and pastors talk about “surrendering to the call” of ministry. I always want to ask, “After you surrendered, were you water-boarded, or just hauled off in handcuffs and leg irons.” Was it really necessary for you to be abducted by a heavenly vision before you would go into the work of the gospel?

The missionary call is not like a prison dog that tracks us down, sniffs us out, and hog-ties us for the nations. That is silly-talk and really bad theology. Nowhere in Scripture is a mysterious (supernatural) call a prerequisite before we can respond to the Great Commission. The opposite is actually true.

Don’t Wait for a Call

No aspect of mission is more bogged down with extra-biblical baggage than the “missionary call.”  The clear command of Christ “to go” should be, by itself, sufficient to set you on your way “into all the world. . . proclaiming the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15). You can’t go wrong by trying to go. Trust the Lord to direct your moving feet. If you are convinced of your “call” to “stay”, this will only serve as added confirmation that you are right. Don’t fear the risk of ending up some place the Lord doesn’t want you. Too many already took that “risk” when they assumed a stateside ministry or vocation with no confirmation other than their own desires.

Dramatic calls to ministry are the exception. If you have it in your heart to go, then go. Then, lean on the sovereignty of God to get you where he wants you in the harvest. Don’t worry about “running ahead of God.” You aren’t that quick!

Try to Go

Paul tried to go into Asia, but the Lord wouldn’t let him. He then tried to go to Bithynia, but was “kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.” Still, he kept trying to go. I count at least six cities in Acts 16 where Paul tried to take the gospel. It was only then that the Lord gave him a vision of the Macedonian. He woke up the next morning and immediately headed for the regions north, having “concluded that God had called them to preach the gospel in Macedonia.

The heavenly vision wasn’t a “call” to mission, it was specific guidance for missionaries that were already going.

The point?  Don’t complicate the missionary call. Get radical with the going and God will get radical in the specific guiding.

David Sitton is the founder and president of To Every Tribe Ministries. David is a career church planting missionary who lived and worked in Papua New Guinea for 16 years, making first gospel contact with several headhunting, cannibalistic tribes.

It's hard to be a sinner.

There is a general assumption prevalent in the world that it is extremely difficult to be a Christian. While it is true that many don't completely disqualify themselves as "Christians," they do modify their claims: ordinary Christians they call themselves. They respect the church, worship fairly regularly, try to live decently. But they give themselves somewhat generous margins to allow for the temptations and pressures put upon them by the world. To really be on the way of faith, take with absolute seriousness all that the Bible says - well. that requires a predisposition to saintliness, extraordinary willpower and an unspecified number of nameless austerities that they are quite sure they cannot manage.

But this is as from from the truth as the east is from the west. The easiest thing in the world is to be a Christian. What is hard is to be a sinner. Being a Christian is what we were created for. The life of faith has the support of an entire creation and the resources of a magnificent redemption. The structure of this world was created by God so that we can live in it easily and happily as his children. The history we walk in has repeatedly been entered by God, most notably in Jesus Christ, first to show us and then to help us live full of faith and exuberant with purpose. In the course of Christian discipleship we discover that without Christ we are doing it the hard way and that with Christ we are doing it the easy way. It is not Christians who have it hard, but non-Christians.

These paragraphs and the Chesterton quote from chapter 10 of A Long Obedience In the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson are teasers to draw you into the chapter and the rest of the book.