Apathetic Busy-ness
Ron Tovar encourages us that men need to bond with other men. This is why men join softball, volleyball, and soccer teams. They form bowling leagues, congregate in bars, or go fishing with their buddies. God made men for fellowship, to share our lives with other men joined by a command bond. According to Hebrews 10, “Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is….” Despite the government’s orders for social distancing, isolating, and locking down, Influencers is sponsoring 4M groups — small groups of 4 men who meet together in person or on-line to encourage one another in the Word of God.
Jesus himself modeled a 4M group. He chose twelve disciples. He also had an inner circle of three: Peter James, and John.
Hebrews 10:24-25 says, ….. “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
God created Adam and Eve for each other so that they could share fellowship with each other and with God himself. However, they sinned and broke fellowship with God. They separated their hearts from God and died spiritually the day they disobeyed God by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The question at one of the Influencers retreats was, “who’re your six?” Lynn, a retreat leader, had asked this question. He never had a meaningful relationship with his father whom he had watched die of alcoholism. Lynn observed that his dad did not have six friends at his funeral who would carry his casket. Men need to bond with other men. It’s unhealthy for men to be isolated and “socially distanced” from other men.
Therefore let us consider how to stimulate one another, how to encourage one another to love and good deeds. If you claim to be a Christian and yet there is no evidence of good works to God’s glory, then the church has not stimulated you to the love of God. Jesus said, a new commandment I give to you that ye love one another even as I have loved you. In this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, that ye love one another.
Phillip Keller, a sheep rancher, wrote about Psalm 23 from a shepherd’s perspective. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Jesus said, why art thou cast down? A cast sheep has fallen into a ditch and turned over on his back. In this “cast” position, the sheep cannot get off his back. A cast sheep will die in this position unless his shepherd picks him up and sets him back on his feet. Sheep are completely dependent on their shepherd for their lives and well being. Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice and they know me and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
A minister is one who runs to serve. Our 4M groups influence our walks with God. Our purpose is to stimulate one another to walk in fellowship with each other and with our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Navigators Press publishes a diagram to illustrate our relationship with God using a wheel as an analogy. The spokes of the wheel transfer power from the hub to the wheel so that the wheel can turn and progress forward. Jesus Christ is the hub, the power source. The power of God’s Holy Spirit is Christ in us the hope of glory. There are two vertical spokes and two horizontal spokes that transfer God’s power to the wheel so that we can “press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” The two vertical spokes are prayer and the word of God. These spokes transfer power by connecting our hearts with God’s heart. The two horizontal spokes are witnessing and fellowship. These two spokes connect our hearts with others within the body of Christ. When we live according to God’s word, we are the witness of the Holy Spirit… We are God’s epistles, His love letters known and read of all men. Fellowship is living transparently, sharing our hearts with other faithful Christians. The wheel symbolizes living in obedience to His will, proceeding according to the purpose to which we have been called. The wheel analogy is summarized in Acts 2:42, “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
The new commandment Jesus gave the church is to stimulate one another in love and good deeds. Loving God and loving others start with attitudes. Godly attitudes are summarized in the beatitudes in Matthew 5.
In Hebrews 12, God disciplines those he loves. The purpose of discipline and reproof is to correct — to restore to an upright position. Fellowship means to live a life committed to connecting our hearts with Jesus Christ, with our Heavenly Father, and one with another in the household of faith.
Discipline is often painful but it’s necessary. According to Hebrews 12:9, “Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?” It hurts to be straightened but it’s for our own good to be restored upright.
Pete recalls that when he started his men’s ministry, he discovered that five men who had risen up as potential leaders were living with their “significant others” out of wedlock. He took each man aside separately and said. “You can’t be an example to the church while you’re living in sin. Either you need to move out or she needs to move out.” He followed up with each man in the weeks that followed but nothing changed. Then he said to one of the men, we need to correct this situation today. If neither of you is moving out, then you need to get married. The man said, “how do I do that?” Pete said, “go down to the courthouse and sign a marriage certificate in front of a justice of the peace.” When Pete confronted each man and gave him this specific instruction, each man married his wife that very week. When it comes to reproof and correction, men need a specific action plan. Years later, each man came up to Pete and said, “Thank you so much for insisting that my wife and I get married. Because of your correction and encouragement to do the right thing, we committed our lives in marriage in the sight of God and men. God has blessed our marriage ever since.” Reprove and correction means to stimulate each other to love and good deeds.
We are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is. God created us for fellowship with another. Apathy is one of the enemies that will destroy fellowship. Transformational communities are the foundations of church assemblies. Transform means to change in character or condition. Most men judge the quality of their lives by their works and their accomplishments. However salvation is of grace and not of works. Unless Christ is preeminent in our hearts, works will be futile. Jesus said, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things will be added to you.
Sin makes men walk in lonely paths. The selfishness of sin separates us from God and from others. However, the tie that binds is the love of God. Paul said, above all things put on charity — the love of God, which is the bond of perfectness.
Busy-ness is the enemy of fellowship. What does it mean to be busy? Satan called a worldwide convention of demons. He said, “We cant keep Christians from going to church or forming an intimate relationship with their saviour so here’s what I want you to do. Steal their zeal and appetite for God so that their hearts will grow apathetic and lazy. How shall we do that? Persuade them that they need to keep themselves busy. That fathers need to work constantly and have no time for fellowship. Tempt them to get mobile devices for their children so they will isolate themselves in their own self centered little worlds. Have their wives think that they need to work full time so that they can be imprisoned by their covetous desires to keep up with the Jones’s. Have them return from their vacations exhausted and keep them busy, busy, busy. Invite them to gossip in churches but don’t let them pray. Keep them talking about their problems and others’ faults and failures but don’t let them join their hearts together in prayer. Call them to a works based system to keep their hands and their minds occupied with the busy-ness of worldly pursuits.”
Oswald Chambers said that the main thing about Christianity is not the works we produce but rather maintaining our relationship with Jesus Christ. We will not be the men of God we should be without other men of God in our lives. We’re most like the men with whom we choose to associate.
In the First World War, Two boys who had grown up like brothers volunteered together for military service. They both served in France and found themselves defending the same trench line. They charged the German lines when their commander said, Charge! The enemy machine gun fire made them retreat back into the trenches. One guy didn’t see his buddy return to the trench. He started over the trench to find his buddy, but his commander said, “He’s probably dead. Don’t go out to find him.” However, he went out of the trench and into the bloody field looking for his buddy. When he finally found him mortally wounded, his buddy said just before he died, “I knew you’d come.”
The Bible says there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. We can’t survive the spiritual battlefield without other men of God. Part of dying to self is entrusting our lives to other men who “have our six.” They have our backs — our 6 o’clock position — and we have theirs in the midst of the spiritual battle.
Therefore, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is, and so much as ye see the day approaching…
…that we may stimulate one another to love and good deeds to the praise of the glory of God’s grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael
