Attracting a Crowd

I used to wonder why Jesus did so many miracles during his ministry on earth. There was a time when I thought God just wanted to make the Bible more interesting. It was like Jesus was the first David Copperfield -- except there were no pretty ladies and all of his "tricks" were real. But then I was reading this section from Luke's Gospel: "When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen" (19:37). Suddenly it dawned on me that the purpose of Jesus' miracles was to draw a crowd. Jesus knew that if he wanted to get a hearing for his message of actual needs he needed to deal with their perceived needs. The miracles gave Jesus an audience that he may not have gotten had he not done miracles. The church needs to take its cue from Jesus. While we can't do miracles we can attract crowds. When we meet people's perceived needs we are more likely to have an audience willing to hear what their actual need is -- the need for grace. The bottom line is that while God is totally responsible for building his church through the means of grace, we are totally responsible for building a crowd to hear that message.

Jesus Critics

I was reading a book by Chuck Swindoll the other day and he had a great application when it comes to dealing with critics within the church...

Criticism comes from people who are least qualified to give it. Then who's qualified to give constructive criticism? The people who know you best -- those who love you the most. Not strangers. Not folks who have no relationship with you. Let me offer you some free advice here: If you don't really know the person you're getting ready to criticize, just pass up the opportunity. Let it be. Loving someone begins with knowing him. That's why Solomon wrote, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend" (Proverbs 27:6). In Hebrew the verse is even more specific: "Faithful are the bruises caused by the wounding of one who loves you." For those relatively few people who truly love me and understand me and who have labored alongside me for enough time to know me well, their words are invaribly worth hearing. They may hurt, but they're reliable. People like that don't criticize inappropriately. Those I often get criticized by don't even know my middle name.

"Paul -- A Man of Grace and Grit"
Charles Swindoll
P.261

First Blog

My name is Mark Walters and I'm brand new to the blogging scene. For a long time I've been looking for a forum to share and expand people's perspectives on issues related to faith. I'm a committed Christ-follower and pastor of a Lutheran church in Ottawa, Canada. Since I became a pastor back in 1997 I've been extremely concerned and downright saddened at how legalism, the very thing that Jesus came to destroy, has permeated many mainline church bodies, including my own. I believe that legalism, perhaps more than anything else, has become Satan's biggest tool to attempt to destroy the church today. Christians, and particularly pastors who hold onto grace for their salvation and preach grace on Sunday mornings have treated other Christians and especially their own ministry colleauges with a disdain and contempt that goes way beyond the bounds of Christian love. We need a new perspective. A perspective that allows for grace to dominate our spiritual discussions. I am fully committed to all of Scripture as God's verbally inspired Word. The Word is the end-all of all discussions. However, we need to have a forum where ideas can be shared without assuming the worst about people. Too many blogs within my church body have become so legalistic and toxic that relationships -- both personally and professionally -- have been damaged, somtimes beyond repair.

So, here I am, to offer my perspectives on issues of faith. You may not agree with everything I post. In fact, there may be things that I pray you won't agree with. At the same time I would like to offer a place where our minds our stretched beyond our comfort zone in a spirit where grace may always abound.

I'm a busy guy, so I'm not sure how often I'll post. But when I do, I'll do my best to offer something that forces you to stop and think and constantly run back to the cross of Jesus and his amazing grace.

Thanks,

Mark