Episode Transcript
PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Exodus 17:8–13
The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”
So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.
CONSIDER THIS
The Israelites’ wilderness struggle goes next level today. They run into a bonafide enemy: the dreaded Amalekites. Gandalf . . . I mean . . . Moses taps his lay leader Joshua: “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites.” Now, watch what Moses does: “Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”
Joshua must have thought, Hang on, pastor. Isn’t that your job? Shouldn’t you be going to the battlefield to swing the staff of God while we go to the bleachers . . . I mean . . . mountaintop to pray for you?
I know. I know. That’s eisegesis (i.e., reading my own agenda into the text). I’m calling my own foul, and whether the text supports my point or not, we all know the point is on point.
While I am a deep appreciator of ordained clergy people (men and women)—I am one—I think the system of many of our churches has devolved into a culture that has become toxic for the whole people of God. It’s why the proverbial Amalekites are running up the score against our local churches, towns, and cities for the past too many years to count.
Can we be honest about something? The church doesn’t have laypeople. The church is laypeople. If I hear one more person say anything to the effect of, “I’m just a layperson,” I’m going to swat them with the staff of God. And I know it’s not your fault, laypeople. It’s the system and church culture many of us find ourselves in. Too often, when a layperson tries to get in the game (which effectively means starting a new game), they get the Heisman (stiff-arm), not so much from the leadership but from the model. It’s not the clergy’s fault, either. It’s the broken model’s fault.
To be clear, though, I'm not advocating for a new model, as though a model could somehow solve the problem. What we need is the army on the field, with everyone playing their distinctive part (lay and clergy) in the work of sowing for great awakening. To be clear, I’m not talking about church programs and activities here, but the movement of God’s mission into all the places in a community (and the world) it takes the whole church to go. I’m talking about a bonafide New Testament expression of church.
As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.
This past Sunday, during the children's sermon, I asked them about the big football game on the prior Friday night. Then, I asked them what the football team did every other day leading up to the game. They replied, "They practiced." Then I asked the children a ponderous question: "What do you think Sunday morning at church is; is it the big game, or is it practice?"
They mostly agreed Sunday morning was the big game. I told them I saw it differently. I said Sunday morning is practice. The big game is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and the field was all the places their lives took them. On Sunday morning, we practice by getting our lives into the shape of worship, and we then live that out the rest of the week. If you want to win, you have to go to practice, but you don't win at practice. You win on the field of play.
When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset.
People of God, the action is not at the church. The game is on the field. Parents, we need you on the field, at home, praying with your children at bedtime, at breakfast, and talking together about the Word of God everywhere in between. Students, we need you at school, being salt and light, and making sure kids aren't excluded or left behind. Teachers, we need you at school, exuding the mercy of God and being sanctuary space for the Holy Spirit for your colleagues and your students. Doctors, we need you moving in the fullness of God's healing power at your clinics and hospitals, praying for divine intervention in your every decision and prescription, and exuding faith, hope, and love. Lawyers, we need you as beacons of justice and mercy, confounding the courts and judges with the wisdom of heaven in your pleadings and the peace of God in your dispositions. Farmers, we need you in the fields with your laborers and caring for them as you care for your own families. Christians, we need you in the nursing homes and the recovery centers and the jails and the children's group homes, not occasionally but regularly, sowing the truth and love of God.
And pastors and church leaders. We need you up early every day for the big game, taking your place on prayer mountain—lifting your hands over the scattered army of God's people. We need you interceding, prophesying, praying, and groaning with the Spirit for the revelation of the sons and daughters of God all over the community—for the kingdom of heaven to come on earth in both ordinary and supernatural fashion. And we need to see you on the field, coming alongside and encouraging sowers, turning up at the hospital and the courtroom and the school pep rally and lunch room. You are coaching, cheering, diagramming plays on the spot, encouraging, and always loving.
As for me, I'll be your Aaron on Monday and your Hur on Tuesday. And I'll see you on the field.
THE PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE
Lord Jesus, you are my Deliverer.
Would you deliver me from being a spectator in the stands and put me in the big game of worshipping God in my everyday life? I want my life to count. It’s the only one I have. Would you give me a share in a great awakening?
It will be for my good, for others' gain, and for your glory.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end, amen! Amen!
