LEAVEN OF THE PHARISEES, PART 8, "OUT FASTED"

LEAVEN OF THE PHARISEES, Part 8

"OUT FASTED"


  One of the books I read in the first few months after receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit was called, GOD'S CHOSEN FAST, by Arthur Wallis. Since the author was from England,(and the English have cool accents) I thought he must have known what he was talking about, so I devoured it eagerly.  One morning I noticed that I was eating a doughnut with the book in my lap. Doughnut crumbs were strewn across my lap defiling the cover of the book, which must have been a prophetic sign of what I'm about to share.
Doing things halfway is not me. I tend to live by the motto, "If a little is good; more is better," so I don't usually approach anything with less than full commitment. In fact, the word, "compulsive," comes to mind. The same was true with my approach to fasting. I was fascinated with the possibility being able to give up meals and see God open doors for me. The thought of obtaining favor with God by doing something that required a sacrifice was appealing. Besides, it would be a good discipline and cause me to lose weight.
I started off with a three- day fast. Other people who were well known in the body of Christ fasted regularly, or so they said, so I knew that if I wanted to excel in ministry, this was the way. Sure enough, I made it through my first fast with relative ease. I can't remember what I fasted about, but I began to give this new found weapon in my spiritual arsenal more and more devotion. I began to attach the outcomes of my prayer requests to the length of the fast and especially the type of fast I was able to do.
Serving God was serious. I knew that people were choosing sin and were ignoring God, especially other Christians who didn't seem concerned that the Church needed revival. I knew it was up to me to "press in" to God and show Him I meant business.
During this time, I was able to convince a few others to fast with me. Since my husband and I were the pastors, I knew that our congregation would be worthy of revival, God's vindication of sincerity, if we would just be more devoted to the spiritual disciplines. After all, the books I read indicated that revivals had happened only when people had sought God with prayer, but especially with fasting.
It was odd, but the more often I fasted, the harder it was to pray. Within only a couple of hours into a fast, my mind drifted to gutting it out to make it until the time I had reserved, usually 3 days, 7 days, 21 or 40. I became grumpy and legalistic, and while I was fasting, the messages I preached had an element of intensity to them.
            I read some books that talked about not just fasting once in awhile but about leading a "fasted" life. These were the spiritual "big guns," who made fasting a regular habit. Their books filled the shelves of the Christian bookstores and they spoke in hushed tones about a deeper Christian life. Whenever I felt insecure, or in a state of bewilderment, or whenever things weren't going smoothly in the congregation, I fasted. I never felt close to God during the fasts, but it didn't matter, I saw the hunger and the lack of emotional feeling as just another sacrifice. I knew God would one day vindicate the time I had spent devoting myself to spiritual discipline with the blessing of revival, church growth and fulfillment of prophecies that had been given to us.
         I was on a 40-day bread and water fast when a girl in the congregation remarked about how much time I spent fasting and how much weight I had lost. She didn't know that one day that same week I was walking through a store, looked in a mirror and noticed that the whites of my eyes were turning yellow. She went on to share about an article she had read in a Christian magazine by a woman who acquired anorexia nervosa under the guise of fasting. Her words ran through me like a knife. I didn't show it on my face, but I wondered for a second if this could be happening to me.
       This woman was the first person God sent across my path. The second was a young man in our congregation who began to take me seriously. He, too, developed a penchant for fasting and intense prayer.  Within a few months our congregation was in the throes of a division. The young man had developed a following. He strained at prayer for revival and out fasted me. Then he subtly influenced his followers to despise Bill and me. We weren't committed enough to the revival vision to lead. Something was wrong, and I needed to find out what it was...
(Part 2 next week: What God showed me about fasting...)

HEAVEN'S BUSINESS CARD

#7- BEWARE THE LEAVEN OF THE PHARISEES

"...They (the Pharisees) love respectful greetings in the marketplaces and being called 'rabbi'..."

HEAVEN'S BUSINESS CARD

I was in the lobby of a hotel in Brooklyn, NY waiting for folks to pick me up for a church service when I spied a "fat" newsprint paper on the coffee table. I began flipping through it only to discover that it was a Christian newspaper. It was hard to find the news articles, because they were fighting for column space with the ads for church congregations and ministries. There was definitely a competition going on in New York City for who was the most prominent. Literally, every ministry identified itself with titles, each more elaborate than the next. There were bishops, bishops-of-bishops, apostles, prophets, prophets -of -prophets, archbishops and a new one I'd never seen before: judiciary prelate! (Uh-oh, now that's a serious Big Dog!)

It was difficult to figure out which one was the greatest. Who would want to share with others that you attended a fellowship whose " leader" was merely a common pastor. What if your friends attended the services of a bishop when you could only brag that your leader had not achieved that same high level of awe and wonder?

How did they earn these titles? Did the higher ranking ministers have knowledge that God held secret until you achieved this level? Or was it the size of one's congregation that mattered? Who recognized these folks and why? Or did they just wake up one day and start calling themselves with a new title, have new business cards printed and then follow up with an ad in the newspaper like the one I was reading. And what is the ultimate title? But more importantly, who cares? 

Why did any of these people feel the need to do this? Weren't they supposed to be serving Jesus? He clearly said, "I am among you as one who serves. " He never identified Himself with a title of any kind. He was firm that he didn't want any of His followers using titles, particularly "Father." He did not take the privilege of identifying Himself by anything which would exalt Himself over anyone. Why not?

He represented His Father who wanted to close the gap between Himself and mankind. Jesus was the ultimate Undercover Boss. He cleverly " disguised " Himself as a normal person in order to complete His Father's assignment, closing the gap sin had created between mankind and His Father. Intimidating people by insisting on receiving honor from them would have only  widened the gap. In the same way, as an ambassador of the eternal Gap-closer, our job is to literally take the hand of anyone who will listen and put it in the hand of Jesus, God the Father's only "business card."

Titles are merely symptoms of hierarchy, part of a sinister plot to disarm the Body of Christ of humility. This form of the leaven of the Pharisees has found its way in to every denomination and organization in Christendom, and it has been infecting us for centuries. It uses the weakness of man's inability to trust God and wait for Heaven's vindication. Rather than wait for God to bestow honor in eternity, hierarchy imposes its man- created pecking order based on carnal competition. It causes strife as people vie for position by serving man, rather than serving Jesus. Hierarchy demands obeisance as men lord it over each other. At the root is the fear that one cannot really trust God with a level playing field. Instead, the person must elevate himself so that others will take notice. Besides, waiting for God to show people who you really are may take too much time. You might die before people recognize your greatness! Then what?

No wonder that Peter, who witnessed the sufferings of Christ, admonished those who wanted to elevate him because he and John had performed a miracle of healing at the Gate Beautiful. Instead of allowing men to bow before him, Peter said that it was not their own power or piety that made the crippled man walk. It was Jesus, the Name above every other name. Paul later said the same when he performed a miracle that caused people to bow before him, "Rise up; I, too, am just a man!"

I wonder what would have happened had people who were in awe of the miracle of healing bowed before some of the folks running ads in that "Christian" newspaper. They may have been baptized in a flood of business cards.

One time I heard a preacher ask, "Why are there only 24 elders in heaven casting their crowns before Jesus?" Answer: "Because God could only find 24 who were willing to take their crowns off!"

When Paul wrote, "I will not have anyone credit me with more than he sees in me or receives from me," he was saying, " If God allows you to see Jesus in me, so be it. But until He takes the blinders off, I will remain in disguise with the same costume Jesus wore, that of a normal guy, just like you."

IT IS WHAT IT IS AND IT AIN'T WHAT IT AIN'T

BEWARE THE LEAVEN OF THE PHARISEES-#6 "Sounding the trumpet before you!"

IT IS WHAT IT IS AND IT AIN'T WHAT IT AIN'T

Are you suspicious of promotion? I'm not sure where we got the idea that the Lord is waiting for us to promote Him. There is a big difference between telling somebody something in a real context of joy and excitement and trying to fake joy and excitement, especially to obtain money or leverage. One is genuine and the other isn't. It has an ulterior motive.
One of the worst ways is playing to the media in order to sell yourself...uh...your ministry to the public. I come from the Bible Belt where billboard ads for church congregations and evangelistic ministries line the freeways. Each one usually has a slogan: "We are the Church In the Know, On the Go, Yo-ho-ho, Hidey-ho!" Why do we need to do that? The religion biz is rife with promotion and exaggerated advertising. But when you suggest to folks that your ministry is the greatest thing since Jesus walked the earth, no wonder people are disappointed when you show up. Then you have to pull an even bigger ruse by living under that religious mask.
What is wrong with being a normal person?
Everywhere I go, I always say to the Lord, "I'll know I'm on the right track if somebody here tells me, 'You're real.'" Transparency exposes the real truth that you are who you are, nothing more. It is the way to live when you are secure in the love of God. There is no longer any need to hide behind spin and clever exaggeration. You are normal just like everyone you are talking to. You have struggles like everyone else. The same joys, sorrows, fears and funny faux pas are as common to you as they are to everyone else. In fact, they are all points of identification with other folks you meet.
The trouble is that we somehow feel we need to hide our points of identification because we just feel awkward and unlovely. When you start to feel that way, remember that the guy in front of you is a normal person, too. One of the best ways to drop the wall between you is to reveal one of those points of identification. There is almost nothing about the way I live that I believe is a sacred secret--other than my passwords! Why should it be? I am just like you, peering out from a head that talks and a heart that feels.
Besides, if I share my struggles, maybe you will feel like there is no reason you need to hide, either. I am willing to become vulnerable to you in order to become friends with you, but better still to let you know that it's ok out here in the Light. If Jesus can love me, with my faux pas, He is likely to be able to love you, too.
The need to be known as something other than a normal person says that you think more highly of yourself than you ought. Have you ever met someone who over dramatizes themselves? Behind all that fluff is a scared little person who needs to come out of hiding and know the rest and peace of living in the light of God's love.
One of my favorite sayings is, "It is what it is, and it ain't what it ain't." There is no need to promote yourself as though you wear a halo. You are not a product and your "ministry" is not supposed to be, either. It's just you in there, ok? Your congregation is no better than anyone else's because it's full of regular people.
If you want to walk in the freedom of God's Kingdom, you will have to give up the fake you and just be who you are: a normal person who needs no other business card than the same one the Apostle Paul had, "I am who I am, by the grace of God." And the ego-bustin', verse, "I will not have anyone credit me with more than he sees in me or receives from me." That is just another way of saying, "It is what it is, and it ain't what it ain't!"