Brother Dominique: Usefulness

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

“Dominique learned he had inoperable cancer and asked permission to relocate from Saint-Rémy to Paris, where he had close family and relatives. In a move totally unsurprising to those of us who knew him, he took a job as a night watchman in a nearby factory, 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., the graveyard shift.

The story goes that as Dominique would travel home each morning following his shift, he would visit the park across the street from his house, an area filled with what society calls “the riffraff”: winos, the old and young and homeless, losers. My good friend traded in his old habit for a new one, that of passing out candy to the least of these, listening to their stories, and always leaving them with good news, words I’d heard a hundred times: “Jesus Christ is crazy about you. He loves you just as you are, not as you should be.”

One morning marked the end of Dominique’s graveyard shifts. Friends discovered his body on the floor of his flat. The cause of death was determined to be a heart attack. I believe, however, that Dominique died of just the opposite—his was a heart surrender. Here was a man who had surrendered, who had given pieces of his heart to others for a lifetime: a good word here, a gentle touch there, an encouragement always. Dominique’s journal was found with this final entry:

All that is not the love of God has no meaning for me. I can truthfully say that I have no interest in anything but the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. If God wants it to, my life will be useful through my word and witness. If He wants it to, my life will bear fruit through my prayers and sacrifices. But the usefulness of my life is His concern, not mine. It would be indecent of me to worry about that.”

Brother Dominique as recounted in All Is Grace: A Ragamuffin Memoir by Brennan Manning and John Blase (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2011) 105-107. Special thanks to my wife, Jenni, for sharing this one with me, and to James Hoxsworth, our pastor for sharing it with her.

On Monday mornings many people question the usefulness of their lives and their work. Some with poor health can feel like throwing in the towel. Whether or not that’s you, focus on the love of Christ today. Celebrate that you know Him and consider ways to make Him known generously to others with every ounce of energy that you have. The news that Jesus Christ loves you and me is not just good news, it’s the best news. Make it known through how you do your work today and every day and to all you touch along the way.

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15

“For most youth workers and congregational leaders, the typical question is, How do we get more young people involved in the service project next week or the work camp next summer? While it is important to get young people involved in concrete opportunities to give and serve, a much more fundamental question is, What experiences and relationships do young people need now to form a foundation for a lifetime of generosity?

Ideally, those life-forming experiences should include repeated involvement in service and giving during childhood and adolescence. But nurturing generosity requires a broader perspective, highlighting the importance of connecting youth with caring, generous role models, experiencing a healthy family that is engaged with the world, and experiencing the congregation as a caring, challenging, nurturing community of faith.”

Eugene C. Roehlkepartain, Elanah Dalyah Naftali, and Laura Musegades in Growing Up Generous: Engaging Youth in Living and Serving (Herndon, VA: The Alban Institute, 2000) 93.

Today in Carlsbad, California, we are speaking on generational generosity. I will share my family heritage of the Christian generosity of my great grandparents, grandparents, and parents. Jenni will share intentional experiences we have done to nurture generosity in our family. Sophie will add ways she has learned to live within her means so she can be generous and help her peers along that pathway. What a joy to speak together!

Our aim, as Roehlkepartain, Naftali, and Musegades suggest, is to help the CBMC group see that intentional “experiences” rooted in obedience to the commands of Christ (which are not burdensome but for our good) coupled with “relationships” rooted in humble transparency and authenticity (both in family and church settings) help each generation “form a foundation for a lifetime of generosity.”

What about you? Regardless of the generosity of your ancestors, what experiences can you pursue and relationships can you deepen to help your family and congregation reflect the generosity of Christ to the world? This largely does not happen through doing a few projects. Rather, it takes shape when we do many small things with the love of Christ compelling us, not for ourselves, but collectively for Him.

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Luke 6:35

“In an age of dramatic social, class, and racial differences, the local church was the only institution in the Roman world that brought unity between classes and races. The churches Paul planted were a diverse fellowship of Jew and Gentile, young and old, poor and rich…The radical generosity of the [early] church amazed the community, and it drew attention to the radical generosity of Christ…It was Christians giving themselves away to those unable to pay them back that convinced a skeptical Roman world the truth of Jesus’ claims…In a post-Christian skeptical age, love on display is sometimes the most convincing apologetic.”

J.D. Greear in Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary (Nashville: B & H Publishing, 2011) 230-231.

Today we explore the question of skeptics and fruitful ways to share Christ with them at our CBMC meetings in Southern California. Greear’s research reveals that “the most convincing apologetic” is in fact living a radically generous life. When we give the least deserving people what they need most, and when we are generous not expecting anything in return, that’s when all heaven breaks loose. This is not so much about intentionally blessing one lost soul, and hoping they come to faith. It’s about reorienting every aspect of our existence to live, give, serve, and love like Jesus toward everyone.

Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. Luke 15:11-13

“In the quiet stillness, gazing at an empty horizon, we wait like the father in this story, for the prodigal to come back home. And we ask for patience while we nervously search the horizon…

We wait for the prodigals in our lives in such a way that we can express compassion for them when they do come home. We wait for prodigal beloved in a way that enables us to love them instantly, the moment they come their senses, but also in a way that lets them do their own emotional work.

We do not do it for them. That is why waiting well depends on gardening our own hearts. We get on with farming our own land and leave our beloved to hard lessons learned far away. But while we wait for our own to return, we can be citizens in a far country for some one else’s child.

Perhaps you protest my comparison between the lost son an current examples of the way young people squander their resources. Wait a minute, you say. Stories you tell are full of other people’s sins…

Yet isn’t it interesting that the lost son is given no one but himself to blame for getting lost? In Jesus’ day, people would have blamed the boy. Even so, the father forgives. Even if it was his own fault entirely, the father runs to meet him. That insight comforts me.

Even if I am completely to blame for squandering my resources, God forgives and restores me. Can you accept God’s grace for your foolishness? Are we willing to offer God’s grace to other foolish people?”

Joyce Bellous in Gardening the Heart (Toronto: Clements, 2005) 76-78.

Often the hardest person to forgive for bad stewardship decisions in which we squander God’s resources is ourselves. It is similarly difficult to wait with readiness to give grace and compassion to the prodigals in our lives. Let’s follow the example of the father. We must both accept God’s grace for our own foolishness and offer it to others.

Jenni and I are thankful to discuss topics like this at the CBMC retreat in Carlsbad, California (the “birds of paradise” outside our room are pictured above). For those wrestling with accepting and extending grace, we offer this prayer that Bellous offers at the end of this section on the parable of the lost son (Luke 15:11-32).

Lord…show me how this young man’s father waited. Let me see it. Teach me to wait well…Lord Jesus Christ have mercy…Open my heart to my own human need for forgiveness. Help me forgive myself…I will always be foolish unless you help me. I pray not just for myself. Open my heart to forgive…Lord Jesus Christ have mercy.

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Him and His disciples, for there were many who followed Him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw Him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked His disciples: “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:15-17

“The unifying theme that emerges from [texts such as Mark 2:15-17] is one that may be called ‘contagious holiness’. Jesus regularly associates with the various sorts of sinners on whom the most pious in his culture frowned, but His association is never an end in itself. Implicitly or explicitly, He is calling people to change their ways and follow Him as their Master. But unlike so many in His world (and unlike so many cultures throughout the history of the world), He does not assume that He will be defiled by associating with corrupt people. Rather, His purity can rub off on them and change them for the better. Cleanliness, He believes, is even more ‘catching’ than uncleanness; morality more influential than immorality….

Was Jesus a party animal? Not in the sense we usually mean by the expression: someone who simply loves to eat, drink, and enjoy other forms of entertainment with friends just for the immense pleasure of it. There were always kingdom purposes involved in Jesus’ presence at banquets and other special meals. Yet it remains striking how willing he was to socialize, even in the intimacy of table fellowship, with anyone and everyone for the sake of accomplishing His mission.”

Craig Blomberg in Contagious Holiness: Jesus’ Meals With Sinners (Downers Grove: IVP, 2005) 129.

Jenni and I fly to San Diego today to facilitate discussions and speak at the CBMC President’s Council weekend. Why do we support this organization and participate in this annual gathering? We love how CBMC prepares God’s workers to serve as marketplace ambassadors.

Over the next few days, we will discuss sharing our faith with others in our sphere of influence. That includes sinners and skeptics. Interestingly, generosity intersects with evangelism when we look at the example of Jesus. His example of “contagious holiness” as Blomberg so keenly describes it, models the way for us.

Jesus was focused. He always had “kingdom purposes” in view. He befriended the least likely characters. He enjoyed table fellowship with them which opens the door for friendship. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ Luke 7:34

How might you generously pursue table fellowship with someone not as a evangelistic project but to make a friend? Friendship opens the door for sharing your Christian faith, and that’s the greatest gift you can give someone because it’s priceless. Jesus gave His life to give it to you.

I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in Him. Psalm 40:1-3

“The word patience is derived from the Latin word for suffering. It suggests the thought of being under the constraint of some power from which we would gladly be free. At first, we submit against our will. Experience teaches us that when it is vain to resist, patient endurance is our wisest course. In waiting on God, it is of infinite consequence that we not only submit, because we are compelled to, but because we lovingly and joyfully consent to be in the hands of our blessed Father.

Patience then becomes our highest blessedness and our highest grace. It honors God and gives Him time to have His way with us. It is the highest expression of our faith in His goodness and faithfulness. It brings the soul perfect rest in the assurance that God is carrying out His work. It is the token of our full consent that God should deal with us in such a way and time as He thinks best. True patience is the losing of our self-will in His perfect will.”

Andrew Murray in On Prayer (New Kensington: Whitaker House, 1998) 268.

Everyone, at various points in life, has the privilege of learning patience. Murray helps us see that perhaps God does His best work in these times. When we give God “time to have His way with us” through submission of our self-will to His perfect will, the result is of “infinite consequence” as it places us in a position to experience His grace, His unmerited favor and generosity in our lives.

Think of the implications of this. If we try to navigate life on our own strength, through our own power, we remain stuck in the mud and mire (to borrow an expression from David the psalmist). When we instead cry to Him and wait for His salvation and provision, in His time, He lifts us up, and we then have both a new song in our hearts and a story to tell of His faithfulness.

At this time I am praying for my parents. For weeks they have been doing the diligent work of giving away many of their possessions and preparing their home to sell so they can move to Florida to live near to my brother, David, and his wife, Joanna. It’s taken far longer than expected and been more work than they anticipated. I think many times they have felt like they are stuck in the mud and mire.

Can you relate? Do you feel stuck in the mud and mire? Something you are doing or waiting for is taking far longer than you ever dreamed. Don’t lose heart. God does His best work when we wait on Him. Give God time all the time He needs to work. Make that your “generosity” focus today or even this week or this month. As you wait patiently, He just may be writing a new hymn of praise for you to sing at some point in the future.

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. John 15:12

“Professors do not properly consider the subject, nor dwell enough upon the ends of Christian fellowship. It is too little thought of or too little studied. They do not stir up their hearts to love one another, because they do not properly consider how much they are called to the exercise of this holy and tender affection. The largeness of some of our churches, might be thought by some to be a cause of the deficiency, and I should think so, if it did not exist in an equal degree in smaller ones.

Still, however, it must be admitted, that a body of four, five, or six hundred members scattered over the whole expanse of a large town and neighbourhood, cannot have much opportunity for personal acquaintance, and for the interchange of Christian sympathy. To meet this case, there should be a more numerous eldership than usually exists, and district associations and meetings of the members should be promoted. I am inclined to think, that the deficiency is in many cases, and in no small measure, to be traced to the pulpit.

If the pastor be not a man of love, and a preacher of love; if he do not both by his sermons and his example, breathe a spirit of affection into his people, and labour to the uttermost to do so, there will be a visible want of this essential feature of church prosperity. It has not been with any of us, perhaps, sufficiently an object to promote the love of the brethren. We have preached doctrines, experience and morality, faith and hope; but has charity, the greatest of the three graces, been sufficiently inculcated?

But after all, the chief causes of the deficiency of love, are still to be mentioned; and these are, the want of true love to Christ, and a selfish worldly-mindedness. If we loved Christ more, we should inevitably love one another more, since we love them for His sake. If we felt as we ought, His amazing love to us, we should love Him more fervently in return: and then, as a necessary consequence, we should be more tenderly attached to His people; nor would less worldly-mindedness, more spirituality of mind, fail to be followed with the same effect.

The most eminent Christians are most tenderly disposed towards God’s dear children and Christ’s dear saints. A love of riches or of grandeur is a cold and selfish temper; it concentrates a man’s attention upon himself, and of course withdraws his affection from the church. The present divided and alienated state of the Christian world in this country, is a plain proof, that notwithstanding the prevalence of evangelical sentiment, love to Christ is by no means so ardent as it appears to be.”

John Angell James in The Christian Professor Addressed: In a Series of Counsels and Cautions to the Members of Christian Churches (New York: Appleton, 1838) 169-171.

In the 1800’s the churches were growing large, but they were not necessarily growing in love. In the boom of the industrial revolution when many thought “bigger is better” this thinking spread into the church causing it, at least in part, to lose focus on the command of Christ. Though this was written almost two centuries ago, it sounds mysteriously contemporary.

If you are a pastor, hear this as a friendly reminder. Don’t worry about how large your church is! Aim at growing your love for Christ. From there, focus on nurturing a heart for God in each person you serve. Do this while simultaneously helping people avoid “selfish worldly-mindedness.” Speak openly about what the Word teaches so those you serve can differentiate godliness from worldly thinking.

And if you are not a pastor, share this post with your pastor. Also pray for your pastor to grow as a “preacher of love,” so that your church grows as a community known not for its size but for its “interchange of Christian sympathy.”

All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:44-47

“It is incredible what pains and diligence [Christians] use by all means to succour one another. They have an extreme contempt of the things of this world. Their legislator made them believe that they are all brethren, and since they have renounced our religion, and worshipped their crucified leader, they live according to his laws, and all their riches are common.”

Lucian of Samosata, a second century satirist (c. 125-180), in “The Death of Peregrine” 13, as recounted and translated from the Greek by John Angell James in The Christian Professor Addressed: In a Series of Counsels and Cautions to the Members of Christian Churches (New York: Appleton, 1838) 167.

Christians who live out their faith generously are like rock formations in barren country. They are beautiful and the reflect the glory of God, just like this view of the red rocks in South Valley Park near our home in Colorado.

Today post is another ancient pagan source that reports the generosity of the early church Christians. Lucian of Samosata recounts the “extreme contempt” of the Christians for “the things of this world” and their care for each other. Rather than focus on how others are living, let us live, give, serve, and love generously and form communities who live this way regardless of what the world is doing. That’s God’s design for the local church.

My prayer is that modern day writers would say the same thing of us: that we live as brethren, that we have renounced the ways of the world, that we worship our crucified Lord, that we live by his laws, and that we view riches as common. In plain terms, all we possess is not mine and yours but God’s to be used to advance God’s purposes as outlined for us by our Lord and Savior, Jesus!

When the early church lived this way, many were drawn to faith in Christ. It’s not the new evangelism but how Christians won people to faith in the early church. Let’s follow their example with the same “extreme contempt.”

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. 2 Corinthians 9:10-11

“A great many people are terrified that sometime soon the earth will run out of petroleum deposits. In that view, fossil fuels are a zero-sum game—there is a strict, finite limit on how much oil exists underground, and when that oil is all pumped out, our cars will all wheeze to a halt.

That fear is behind the push for renewable resources, that is, drawing energy from theoretically infinite sources such as the sun, wind, and falling water. More and more we see solar panels and giant wind turbines sprouting up. More and more ethanol plants are being built that derive their energy output from plants.

Do you see giving money back to God as a zero-sum game (if he gets more of my money, then I get less; soon I’ll have nothing)? Did you know that God solemnly guarantees to be an endlessly renewable resource for cheerful givers?”

Mark Jeske in Time of Grace blog entitled “Renewable Resources” and posted on 17 August 2017. Special thanks to Daily Meditations reader, Greg Schuyler of St. Croix Lutheran High School, for sharing this reading with me.

While this post seemed fitting as we entertain out-of-town guests considering a big cross-country move, it really applies to everyone. Think about it.

If God is not an “endlessly renewable resource” then neither our friends nor anyone else should entrust their lives and their future to God and His promises, and no one should be hilariously generous, though God loves cheerful givers (cf. 2 Corinthians 9:6).

Alternatively, if however God is “endlessly renewable resource” then we should live like we believe it. We should be generous at all times and on all occasions. Why? Not because we are loaded but because He is.

The world’s economy functions with a scarcity mindset and uses “zero-sum game” thinking as it’s proverbial operating system. God’s economy, alternatively, reflects abundance at every turn. When we sacrifice, we don’t end up empty, but rather, enriched.

Do you live like you believe this? Or maybe more importantly, would others say you live like you do? While I will admit, “endlessly renewable resource” may not be the best description for us as finite beings to describe an infinite God, it gets the point across.

Since He is that and more, let us resolve to live, give, serve, and love generously, because there is no end to the life, provision, strength, and love of God!

He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. Acts 11:24

“A good man, according to the doctrine of Scripture, is a follower of the blessed Jesus. He loves to imitate the bright example He hath given, “who went about doing good” [Acts 10:38]. He feels a deep concern for the salvation of immortal souls, and pities the many thousands of his fellow men, who are seeking death in the error of their ways. He is ever ready to sooth the sorrows of the afflicted, and shows a tender sympathy toward the distressed. He learns of the Lamb of God, who was meek and lowly of heart, to exercise patience, submission, and humility, and although his fears are often many, and great, his hopes of pardon and acceptance with God, are ever derived from the vicarious sacrifice of the blessed Jesus, who made atonement by his blood to expiate our guilt; and also in His life “gave” us an example, that we should tread in “His steps” [1 Peter 2:21]. This was evidently the character of Barnabas: he recommended the gospel in his life, as well as in his doctrine — “For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.”

George Ford in a funeral sermon he preached on 19 June 1796 for Rev. Samuel Brewer entitled, “The Good Man, and Faithful Minister, Made Eminently Useful” (London: W. Smith, 1796) 14-15.

I’m thrilled to be home to enjoy the weekend with my wife and to greet our house guests who arrived a couple days ago from Connecticut, Mark and Kate Whitsitt, along with their three growing children. I’m thankful for friends like Mark because like Barnabas, he is a good man, full of Holy Spirit and faith! Mark is visiting to check out Denver Seminary and thinking of moving his family to Colorado to attend. Like Ford put it, Mark’s “fears are often many” but he is “ever ready” to show love and service to others because of the “sacrifice of the blessed Jesus” for Him. Regardless of where God leads Mark and his family, I know He will follow in the steps of Christ, and because of that, a great number of people will be brought to the Lord.

What about you? Are you a good man or woman, full of faith and the Holy Spirit and leading others to the Lord? If that’s your desire but you feel like you need help to get off the proverbial sidelines and into the game, check out Good and Faithful: Ten Stewardship Lessons for Everyday Living. The videos stream there freely and you can get the study guide for yourself as an individual, to go through as a couple, or for your small group. I plan to give a copy to the Whitsitts as I know their whole family will go through it!