Oct 28th, 2009 by Greg England
If you read this blog on any kind of a regular basis (and you really should), you know that I have been very blessed by Chorus Church, where we now attend. I play occasionally in the praise and worship band and enjoy the teaching of our preacher, Dave Reynolds. I leave on Sundays feeling as if I’ve been re-charged for another week.
I also wonder if people left Long Beach feeling the same during our years there? But that’s another blog … one I’ll probably choose to ignore.
For no other real reason than to honor the leadership at Chorus and meet some newbies to Chorus, Jan and I attended a 4-session Discovery Class recently in which the history of the church is presented along with core beliefs and a discussion of how to move deeper into involvement and, hopefully, ministry. Actually, that was my reason for attending. Janice may have had her own reason(s), or maybe she just accompanied me.
Borrowing from Rick Warren’s work, Chorus Church uses the SHAPE profile to help people figure out how to best serve the Lord where they are. If you are not familiar with Warren’s acronym, it stands for Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experiences. We were given a SHAPE profile to complete and then meet with one of the staff pastors to discuss where and how we might fit in.
A question (in the form of a statement to be completed) on the profile bugs me just a little: “If I knew I couldn’t fail, this is what I would attempt to do for God with my life.” I’m sure I’ve used this question in my preaching / teaching and if so, I apologize!
To me, it assumes too much: That everything you’ve done thus far was not pleasing to God. That what we might come up with as an answer automatically pleases God. (If I knew I couldn’t fail, I would buy 100 high end guitars for God and leave them to Him in my will.) That I am paralyzed by fear of failure, so I am not doing much for the Lord. That my life must mirror the experiences of at least some of the Bible characters.
I think part of my problem comes from an attitude or theology that seems to believe that our experiences will be similar to those of Biblical characters. For instance, since Abraham was told to leave Ur, then I must leave my home and go wherever God leads me. Or, since David danced naked before the Lord, then I need … never mind, that won’t fly because I’ve never been a good dancer. But you get the idea.
And there are plenty of preachers out there who are more than willing to tell you whether or not your spiritual life / walk with the Lord is all it should be. They love defining your life, usually by the infliction of guilt.
It seems to me that of all the characters we come across in Scripture, only a small percentage are actually called by God to do the extraordinary. By far the majority of them (the obedient ones) are living out their lives in faith … basically just going about their daily tasks honoring God in what they do.
So I’m not really sure how to respond to the statement … or if I’ll leave it blank and try to have some degree of discussion with the staff pastor when I meet with him. As far from perfect as my life is, I happen to believe that what we are doing and where we are doing it is being blessed by God and He has us where he wants us right now.
But if I knew failure was not an option, what I would really like to do for the Lord is … go for those guitars!! And maybe throw in a couple of banjos and mandolins.
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Greg England
That’s an interesting question. In some ways I don’t think it is relevant. If I knew I couldn’t fail in some spiritual endeavor, then is it really faith? God seems often to call and use people who are remarkably unsuited for a particular task (at least, by our reckoning). A zealous Pharisee isn’t who I would call to share the Gospel with the gentiles, a man cowering in a winepress might not have been my first choice for a general of God’s army. The list goes on. If anything, it seems that the people God calls, He equips for the task, not because of their natural ability. That way it is evident that He is the source of power and victory.
That kind of leads to spiritual gift surveys. I have found they are more about my spiritual interests than gifts. In fact, the word gift implies that it is something that I don’t possess. It is something that is given to me by God for His purposes, Maybe the next time I fill out one of those surveys I should just put “no spiritual gifts, but I’m willing to be used.” Just a thought.
First, I am SURE that many people left Long Beach inspired after hearing one of your sermons!
Second, I’ve been meeting myself coming back the last several days, and have not been diligent (second time I’ve used that word today!) about commenting. Sorry…………I’ll do better. I know how much comments on my blog mean to me, and I want to encourage you and others, as well.
Third, maybe it’s just me, but I’m on the side of the guitar thing not working!! Seriously………………I wouldn’t know how to answer that, either. To me, it kind of falls into the “what would you do if you won a million dollars thing.” If JUDY cannot fail, then what has God got to do with it? And, let me tell you, Judy can do some big-time failing! But with HIS enablement, I can do a lot. Or maybe I should say, HE can perform miracles through me if He so chooses.
I think you might be over analyzing–from one preacher type to another. That’s one of our gifts, isn’t it? Just tell them what you really like to do and go for it! I think you are already finding your niche by playing in the praise band and that might become a more regular position–hopefully giving you the opportunity to Lynard Skynryd things up more. Eventually, I have to think they will urge you to do some teaching/preaching in some format, God knows. But most of all, sounds like you all are getting more and more connected to God’s family there. On a less serious note, when are you going to help them understand the deeper meaning of Romans 16:16!
Peace.
……I think all I would be worried about is my lack of dancing skills too….not!
Maybe what I want to attempt to do for God in…my life…. is NOT what he wants to attempt with….my life. Just a thought.
How can we fail if we are serving God with a sincere heart? Someone else may do what I do 100 times better but does that make me a failure?
Great thoughts as usual! Your blog is like my morning coffee. I don’t want to go through the day without it.
this was your best blog… ever. I needed this today. Thanks.
I think it can be a both/and instead of an either/or. There have been times in my life where I have felt like I was totally in my element and doing “my calling.” In fact, I think that all of our life is a calling from God in a sense. I heard someone say that when we do whatever we do, with God at the center of it, He blesses my life. That’s not to say that all things work out like we want them to.
However, lately, (if you read my blog you should know this), I have felt the call of God to do the extraordinary. I don’t think that makes me special, but it has really gotten me out of my comfort zone in many ways. Faith is never a matter comfort, but a matter of trust and trust is never comfortable when you don’t see the end result, which is another way to define faith.
I wonder too is failure is even a part of the whole faith thing. Do we serve God because we trust or do we serve Him because we think we won’t fail. And how do you define failure anyway? Just because we don’t get what we want–does that mean we failed or the God failed or that anyone failed? In a sense we all fail because of sin.
Bottom line: “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.” (Hey, that would make a great song!)
As you know, worship is what you do every day not jsut what you do on Sunday. Knowing what I know about you, I’d say you are probably doing just what God would want you to be doing. How many people can minister to the hurting, the way you do every day? A banjo and a violin???…..Sure.
I’ll take the 70’s child approach unlike most of the folks that left a comment – Dude, its only a question. I would answer it by dreaming big, perhaps:
1. I would build and run a Bible Camp.
2. I would build a Family Life Center for our church.
3. I would sponsor a ministry that helped families who lost their homes to find another one.
4. Here’s one – “World Peace.”
I would do exactly what I am doing now. I do it now because it is important. I don’t like failing from time to time and it would be cool to know that when I walked into a room to pray with someone, when I stepped up into the pulpit, or when I stood up at a youth rally, I couldn’t fail. But even though failure is always an option, I plan to keep doing this. I think you would have a similar answer about your current ministry with the bereaved.