CloudofSteam

PTC Ministry Conference
Session 10
David Jones

Tony Bird: I note the title and am amused that when you buy a child’s Superman suit at a toy store, it comes with a manufacturer’s note: This product is sold as a toy only. It does not enable the wearer to fly. Sometimes I think young men leave the college with a degree and expect to fly, but that isn’t the case.

Deuteronomy 13:1-5
Jude 8-10

While travelling by plane, Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) was once told by a stewardess to put on his seatbelt. He retorted, “Superman don’t need no seatbelt!” to which the stewardess said, “and Superman don’t need no airplane! Put on your seatbelt please.”

Ministers can fall prey to Superman Syndrome or the Messiah Complex.

1. The symptoms

A. The most obvious symptom is the desire to leap tall buildings. I think I we need ministers with Big Hairy Audacious Goals. That’s healthy. We need dreamers and schemers.

Arriving early to a moderator’s dinner when the Tasmanian assembly met at Devonport, I asked someone at the restaurant if I was in the right place. she said, “It’s the one for the Pedestrian Church, isn’t it?”

We need to ask big things from God band attempt big things for God. William Booth, speaking to his granddaughter said, “Your best is not good enough. With God you can do better than your best.” Interview of Anne Booth with Michael Parkinson.

You have to root it in the Scripture and take your people along with you. I think that is one mistake I made at St John’s when the whole church planting thing started.

B. Heroic Problem Solving
When we see a struggling cause, we want to get in and fix it. We don’t see that God has other people that he can use.

Wikipedia definition of the Messiah Complex

We take on the role of God in people’s lives. We think we can fix everybody’s problems. We think we ha speak that weekend or people won’t come back to the church.

C. 100%ism
Broughton Knox warned his students against the problem of 100%ism; we think we have to be seen attempting everything. We are tempted to skimp on the core pastor responsibilities of prayer and preaching because that hasn’t seen. (See also, Peter Brain in 

D. People Pleasing
Paul said he faced struggles, but he didn’t just say what people wanted to hear.

E. A Full-blown Messiah Complex
These guys start to believe their own publicity. They think they have a direct line to heaven. They’re starting to work on instincts and promptings. Tozer, “A true leader is one who has no desire to lead, but is forced to lead by the inward pressure of the Holy Spirit.” they’re cult leaders. They claim to have direct revelation from God, Deuteronomy 13:1-5.

2. The Reasons
Why does this happen?

A. Inferiority/superiority complex
Often it is the result of an inferiority complex and low self esteem. We have to prove ourselves.

After Lloyd Jones’ death, Ian Murray gave a moving account at the Banner of Truth Conference. In the time running up to his death, DMLJ wasn’t able to speak for a time. Murray said it must be hard for him not to be able to preach. DMLJ got very angry. He said, Do you think I’ve lived to preach?

B. A wrong understanding of Christian life/ministry
Dying to self is not killing yourself. This is not what it means to take up your cross. Dying to self may mean having to delegate. We have to accept that others can do a better job than we can, so we hog it allot ourselves. Wife convince ourselves that we’re being spiritual in this and functioning in the gifts that God has given us.

We can think we become Godly by doing a Godly things. Ministry becomes a path to Godliness instead of the fruit of Godliness.

C. Consequences

1. Fatigue
It is a recipe for burnout. “Superman don’t need a day off.” We repress our needs for rest and fun. We don’t give time to spiritual growth.

2. Frustration
This grows into frustration. We start to hate those we are ministering to. The joy of the Lord is our strength, but it often ebbs away with anger taking its place. Paul describes the Philippians as his hope and joy, Philippians 4:1. When we become Superman, we become resentful. It is a downward spiral which can pull you down to hell. If you are tempted to say Raca (or Rack off!), you are in danger of hell. Of Richard Sibbs it was said, heaven was in him before he was in heaven. It can be the same with hell. If you are taken over by resentment, it can sweep you away. The way we do ministry can make us contentious. Outwardly, we can still go through the routine, but inwardly we can dry up. If you keep going like this, you will crash.

‘Trying to be more than you are results in being less than you could be.’ it is tempting to Want to be like Whitfield, getting up at 4am to pray. You’ve got to be you. You’ve got to be the man God made you.

How to stop being Superman:

1. Take off the cloak
Mark tells us that Jesus chose the 12 to be with him. It wasn’t that that was all the room he had in his minibus. He chose 12 men to be with him. He has 3 special friends who he took everywhere, Peter James and John. They were his special friends. Even in that circle, he had his best friend, the disciple who Jesus loved, John.

I’m losing my best friend. For 15 years, the Reformed minister at Kingston, Brian Barstra and I have met for prayer. Heirs moving to Sydney.

Jesus needed friends and I hope you don’t think you’re more spiritual that Jesus.

2. Place a priority on nurturing your relationship with God
With the help of God, I dared to preach the Gospel to you. I without me you can do nothing.

3. Open yourself up to others.
We try to disguise ourselves as Superman, but we need to show people we are Clark Kent. Invite people in. Receive as well as give. Paul wants to be mutually encouraged by the people at Thessalonica, I Thessalonians 2.

Jesus stood in the line of sinners waiting to be baptised. He identified himself with sinners, those that he has come to save. Heaven opens and a voice is heard from heaven, ‘That’s my boy.’ “This my son in whom I am well pleased.” Jesus needed that encouragement from his father

When did you last encourage someone? How many people are struggling for lack of encouragement?

4. Lighten up.
It’s not your job to save the world. Jesus said, come to me you who labour and are heavy laden. Take my yoke. Upon You, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” are you labouring? Whenever I come to a place of ministry, I pray, “Jesus, I can’t do this on my own. Let’s do it together.”

Not even the archangel Michael took to himself what wasn’t him. Disputing with Satan over Moses, he said, the Lord rebuke you. 

It is God who justifies. Who is it who condemns? Jesus died and rose again.

Still today, fools rush in where angels fear to tread, playing God.

You didn’t die for your people. It’s not your job to defeat Satan. Its Jesus’ job. Be content to leave the fighting to him.

Tony Bird: This is Biblical kryptonite for the Superman Syndrome:
Recognise you’re human. The joy of the Lord is your strength. Learn to receive, not just give. Remember that Jesus only is the Saviour.

PTC Ministry Conference 2012
Session 9
David Jones

I Thessalonians 2:17-20

Getting things in perspective is what keeps us going when the going gets tough. Paul puts his whole ministry in perspective here. He views it from the standpoint of eternity: what will matter when Jesus comes?

Gospel ministry
1. Goals and Achievements
Everyone has their crown of glory. We’re all aiming for something. Some of you have your whole ministry ahead of you and you hope to make something of it. Seem have had their midlife crisis and see that you’ll never achieve what you set out to do.

Press the fast forward button. What does it look like in his presence at his coming? Can you still boast about it? Can you stand before him without embarrassment, without shame? Jesus won’t ask us what denomination we were part of. He won’t be impressed if we kept the doors open. He’s more interested in the 22 million people who don’t come to your church. 70% of UK citizens surveyed say they have no intention ever of going near a church. Ever. 

Jesus tells us about a rich man, who presumably the listeners all knew of, and a poor beggar called Lazarus. They both died and there is a great gulf fixed between Lazarus in heaven and the rich man in hell. Earlier in that Luke 16, Jesus tells us to use our worldly wealth to make friends in this life so that when you died you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. You have to invest in people.

Press the fast forward button. What will you life look like on the day of his return? Will you be able to boast about how you treated your family or will you be ashamed?

God is going to conduct a qualitative review of our lives. So much of what we boast in now will be burned up, 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. D.A. Carson: “We may be winning more adherents than converts.”

2. Motivation
We also have to question our motivation. Paul is motivated by people, not programs. In this job, there is often nothing to show for the hard work you do. You’re going to hit a patch where you’re going to say, “Let’s pack it in and do something else.” But, press the fast forward button. You’ll have instant job satisfaction, won’t you? There will be people there who you’ve prayed for, lost sleep over and cried over. Those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever, Daniel. This will last long after the world has forgotten who Barak Obama is.

Your task is to make people justified at the last day. What a joy to have people who have been justified by the grace of God standing with you at the end of the world.

TIME Magazine distinguishes between it’s most powerful people and the most influential. The powerful change people from the outside. The influential change them from the inside. We want people to want to change, don’t we?

3. Results
Paul is sure that in these Thessalonians he has gold, not straw and stubble. They will be witnesses that he has not worked in vain. They aren’t statistics. They are solid gold. He can boast about them because they are only Christians because Christ and his cross have made them trophies of his grace. There are others who he cannot mention without crying, 1 Corinthians 3.

What am I? What are the people among whom I work? Will they be someone’s hope and crown of glory or someone’s shame? C.S. Lewis said in The Weight of Glory: “It is a serious thing,” says Lewis, “to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ‘ordinary’ people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations — these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whome we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit — immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.” Immortal horror or everlasting splendour, which will you be on that day and what will your people be?

Have you ever wondered why they don’t play the soundtrack to Hitchcock’s Psycho in the dentist’s waiting room. Ed Clowney: “The church needs to hear the soundtrack in the return of her returning Lord.”

Soon we will be in his presence.

PTC Ministry Conference 2012
Session 8
Nello Barbieri

Mark 3:7-19

I want to answer your questions about discipleship.

There has been a really encouraging move by the Holy Spirit to look at ourselves over the last two days. I don’t want to do that. We’ve been encouraged to pray more. How do we do that? As a college, we want to be a place where you come to get help.

Discuss: What are the biggest obstacles you face to being an effective disciple-maker?

Time and lack of commitment from the potential disciples. We are sinful and lazy. I was never discipled myself. Gender differences.

Even if no one discipled you, there is hope.

Paul talked about growing mature people as giving birth. It hurts.

Where do I find the time? Perhaps you’re thinking of discipleship to narrowly. Peaching is never an end to itself. We preach because we want people to give their lives to Jesus and grow in him.

1. Prepare well. We aren’t just meant to teach people what Jesus said, but to obey what he said.

2. Make the time count to help people think like Jesus. Apply this in how we do committee meetings. It might be one small step, but it heads towards the right end.

People around Jesus wanted to kill him, wanted healing and help from him, and to hear from him so much he asked for an escape pod. The work was fruitful. Yet, he went away from it. He took the disciples away and prayed all night.

Two misconceptions:

First, we think we don’t have time for discipleship. If we’re too busy for discipleship, we’re too busy. If we’re not discipling, what are we doing? 

Second, discipleship is equated with a bible study and prayer. There is a activity beyond that.

How can we disciple?

1. Be a disciple. If Jesus can make time, we need to. Five years ago, I hit the wall in ministry. In the years running up to that, I was doing a lot of ministry work and God blessed it. As Joh Wilson told us this morning, we lose 25% of the guys who leave this place for the ministry. They forget spiritual formation.

We need to read the a bible and pray. Whenever I talk to the guy who lead me to Christ, the first thing he asks me is “How are you quiet times going?”. The next question is “Who have you spoken the Gospel to recently who isn’t a Christian?”

I’m a big one for Scripture memorisation. There’s no better way to change the mind than to eat the Bible.

Whenever I speak to others about their need for salvation because they face a Christless eternity, I become grateful. This our bread and butter.

What can we do?

A. Be earnest about your spiritual walk. When we study the Bible, this is God speaking to us personally.

B. Spend time in prayer. I find it hard, because I it is humiliating. Nothing speaks more about what we think of the sovereignty of God than how much we pray.

C. Let other carry burdens with you. Make connections with others to help.

D. Let God send you into the world.

2. Be A Disciple-Maker

A. Be convinced theologically.

I. Jesus – Mark 9:3-19
I. Jesus internalised. He worked on 12 people to make sure they got it. He knew he was dying. He wanted them to be deep, not broad.

II. He multiplied. To win the world, he worked on a small number of people who could reach the world.

B. Paul – Colossians 1:28-29
I struggle with all his strength that I may present everyone mature in Christ.

2 Timothy 2:2
What you have heard, entrust this to faithful men. When you pass on skills, do it in a way that they pass it on. In Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food, you cant come back for week two until you’ve taught someone what you learn in week one.

Ephesians 4:11-16
We need to train people to train others to disciple others wherever they are and whatever work they do.

3. How do I go about discipling someone?
The way will be different depending on who it is. Discipleship is relational. People will only ever go to programs because of who invites them. If we don’t have time for people, they won’t come to the program, or they’ll only come to one or two until something else comes along.

Select your candidate using FAT: Are they Faithful, Available and Teachable?

How: Read the Bible, Pray, Scripture Memory and Review.
What: The Gospel, Bible, Prayer, Fellowship and Witnessing.

We focus on all sorts of side issues and assume the Gospel. Wherever we are, whoever we talk to, find a way to make the Gospel central to whatever you’re doing.

A healthy discipling context will use preaching, small groups and one-on-one or one-on-two sessions.

4. Principles to practice
A. Focus on making disciples, not obtaining decisions. Look for repentance and growth. Focus on these people and help them reach the multitudes, but just decisions

B. Focus on individuals, not masses. The masses are important, but remember: masses are made up of individuals.

Three people were instrumental in me becoming a Christian. One was a teacher who was a crazy charismatic. I stole his Bible. My karate teacher decided in the middle of a trip to Adelaide to explain the difference between the pre and post tribulation raptures. The last one was Steve Lawson. He invests in me one on one and made me pass on what I learned.

C. Focus on intensive ministry, not extensive ministry.

D. Focus on people, onto programs. Spend you time worrying about people not property. God provides the money. Let’s not be so concerned about it. Money isn’t what we’re on about. So, we need to spend time on people. The problem is that the workers are few.

E. Focus on goals, not means. There are lots of books about what kind of church we should have, but not many about what kind of people God wants me to be.

The goal of Christian ministry is winning converts and building up Christians. If this is not what we’re doing, few are wasting our time and God’s resources. The questions isn’t how busy are we, but are we getting the job done?

Help people read their Bibles and understand them, pray and put into practice what they learn.