Author: Jon Partlow

Posted on

Keep On Singing

“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God you will receive what he has promised” (Heb. 10:35-36).

Can you sense the urgency of his plea? These believers were about to throw in the towel, and it was left to the author to convince them to stay faithful. Maybe these Christians had failed to count the cost, and presumed that a life defined by faith would be easy; or maybe the appeal to the Temple “mega praise” was competing with their small group simple worship. Whatever was driving their decision, they found themselves at a crossroads. The journey was wearing on them. Do they continue or admit defeat by calling it a “run?” 

While Scripture is clear about staying faithful to God, defining “faithfulness” can be much more complicated. Such an understanding means trying to read the signs and explain events within our lives. Paul comes to my mind. While he received his calling from God on the road to Damascus, his calling was not always embraced by the church. His ministry was filled with beatings, jail time, and people questioning his own ability if not his own credibility. At any time, he could have rationalized that God wanted him to step aside and let someone else (e.g. younger with more talent) replace him. 

With limited perspective, we have a difficult time distinguishing God’s will for our immediate context. Do we stay or go? Which job do we take? What major should we declare? Do we speak or remain silent? Do we open our churches in the midst of a global pandemic or remain only online? Where is the moment when our political ideology infringes on the Kingdom of God, and what do we do about it that line is crossed? When we’re told to stop singing, should we silence our voices or just sing that much louder? What God wants is easier defined in broad terms, what he wants from us right now is often confusing. 

George Younce and Glenn Payne of The Cathedral Quartet modeled faithfulness, but it came through the roller-coaster of professional gospel musicians. In the mid-sixties they were the successful worship leaders for Rex Humbard’s Church of the Cathedral with a built-in TV audience. When they went out on their own, they lost their following, struggled to sell concert tickets and records, not to mention making ends meet. With continual turnover in the group, by 1979, George and Glenn finally assembled a group they felt could sing, until a concert promoter convinced the three younger members that George and Glenn did not have their best interest at heart; he misled them to leave and form a new group. 

Devastated, George and Glenn found themselves at a crossroads. Life on the road had not been easy, their families had suffered, and their record company was threatening to drop them. What should they do? They were tempted to quit; just how many groups actually make it in the music business anyway? But since they were working on their latest album, they saw it to completion. George took Dottie Rambo’s classic, “I’ve Never Been This Homesick Before,” and used it to set the tone for the new album, an album simply entitled, Keep On Singing. They continued singing through the valley, and despite the setbacks, they persevered to become the epitome of faithfulness for Southern Gospel music. 

(Sidebar: they soon hired Mark Trammell to sing baritone, and later Roger Bennet to play the piano, and with their stable presence remained with the group for the next twenty years. Kirk Talley was also hired and became the cornerstone for Cathedrals’ tenor voices; he would be followed by Danny Funderburk and then Ernie Haase. By the time George and Glen retired in 1999, they were the premiere Southern Gospel group in America). 

Not all stories end with an encore, but all stories can end with faithfulness (read that line again). It’s not always easy to determine God’s specific will in the moment, but he does expect a faithful trust. He doesn’t guarantee prestige or financial success, but he does ensure his presence. Sometimes we must make difficult decisions, and even give up on dreams, so that we can live out his dreams. Through it all, though, we can keep on singing.

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e., only God is glorified!)

Posted on

When Your Faith Goes Public

Some twenty of us were gathered on a Sunday night in the D.P. Culp Center auditorium on the campus of East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN, near the birthplace of the modern day Storytelling Festival. We were students and former students of Dr. Flora Joy who orchestrated the academic Storytelling program on campus. She had organized a 45 minute Halloween Storytelling show that included a little song, a skit, and a powerful story. For two days students were bussed from local schools for the free performance, and we were the entertainers. 

She was explaining how the program was going to unfold. We knew our individual parts, but hadn’t seen how it was going to come together until that evening. In the midst of explaining the program, she said that we still had five minutes we needed to fill, and asked if any of us had any ideas. 

I was wearing my suit because I drove from church services where I preached that night prior to the rehearsal. I wasn’t that well known by the other students and storytellers, and my friendship with Dr. Joy was still in its very infancy. Theologically, I had no clue where the people around me were; we weren’t exactly in the Bible belt. Were they believers? If they were believers, were they religiously liberal or conservative? Were they apathetic or resentful toward religion? I didn’t know where they stood, and I can only assume where they saw I stood. 

“Who has any ideas to fill a five minute void,” Flora asked us. No one else volunteered, so I raised my hand. She acknowledged my willingness and asked me to share my thoughts. I did. Like the excitement of a child, I suggested, “With all the children here, I could stand up and witness . . .” I saw her eyes struck with fear, and the room immediately grew eerily silent.  I’m pretty sure she was rethinking both the invitation to express my idea, as well as inviting me to participate in the production, and I can only imagine what the people around me was thinking. I continued my suggestion, “. . . and share with the children how on Halloween night the Great Pumpkin rises out of the most sincere pumpkin patch to deliver goodies to all the good little boys and girls.” The sigh of relief from my friend and teacher, with the laughter from those around me, was worth the suspense only moments before. The icing was taking great pride in knowing I had created a storytelling moment. 

Beyond the humor, the instant haunted me. I wondered. I questioned. I struggled with the larger issue: when should my faith go public? When should my private core values become a matter for the public forum? 

Give credit to Linus. He stands alone. He’s unmovable in his faith. He makes no excuses about where he places his faith. No matter the ridicule, he stands his ground. He’s vocal about the goodness of the Great Pumpkin, and even critical of the guy in the red suit. 

He writes letters. He shares his faith. He sits in the most sincere pumpkin patch. No all are so bold in their faith, but all need some boldness in their faith. 

During the days of Elijah, when King Ahab and his wicked wife, Jezebel, were persecuting the faithful, Elijah met with Obadiah (1 Kings 18:1-15). Elijah’s voice was on public display for the king. Obadiah operated under the radar. Obadiah was a servant in King Ahab’s courts, but he served the Living God. His ministry included hiding 100 of God’s prophets, keeping them supplied with food, water, and shelter (very difficult and remarkable since the land was in the midst of a three year drought). Elijah needed Obadiah to deliver a message to the king. In doing so, Obadiah would be exposed; Ahab would know his true loyalties and the prophets he’s hid would be vulnerable. Naturally, Obadiah hesitated in volunteering for Elijah’s mission. Elijah refused to take “no” for an answer, and Obadiah had to step out of the shadows and go public with his faith.

The church is filled with many Obadiah’s. They do great work and ministry behind the scenes. No one knows what they do – like buying lunch for a soldier, or visiting with an elderly person, or mowing the lawn of their neighbor who is battling an illness. No, their voice goes unheard, but their actions speak loud to God’s glory. However, a time may come, like it did for Obadiah, when one’s words must be as definitive as the actions they’ve been taking. Someone will have to say, “I need to tell you about what God has done in my life,” or “I need to tell you that I am a person of faith and my faith is in my Lord, Jesus Christ,” or “I need to speak so that you understand how my actions line up with my faith,” even if it brings ridicule.      

Schulz caught lightening in a bottle when he developed Linus’ Great Pumpkin story. But I cannot help but wonder the point of his message. Did he think Linus was brave, or just crazy?  I’m not sure. I am sure of this, “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven” (Mt. 10:32). And they man who spoke those words, was often thought to be crazy himself (Mk. 3:20-21). 

bonum dolar!
(i.e., Good Grief!)

Posted on

God’s Day In Court: When YHWH Brought Charges Against His People

People love a good courtroom drama. From Perry Mason to Law & Order and from Atticus Finch to the gripping trial of Casey Anthony, we’re drawn to the courtroom as we sit on the edge of our seats in anticipation of the verdict. We hope that justice will be served and all the wrongs committed will somehow be made right. Sometimes they are, sometimes they’re not and other times we’re left wondering what happened?

The prophet Micah orchestrated a courtroom drama unlike ever witnessed by Israel. Micah oversaw significant and unprecedented history as he watched Samaria fall and then predicted Jerusalem’s doom. Sure, the people of Judah clearly understood why Samaria deserved such punishment, but the plank was too thick and heavy for any introspective on their part. Samaria was evil and fell from grace. Judah, on the other hand, was home to Jerusalem, the temple and the reign of David’s dynasty. God’s Name was in there, and with his covenant, he wouldn’t allow anything to happen to the City of David. Would he? So they glossed over their own sins and charged God’s rule with incompetence. So God counter sues them and gets his day in court.

The drama in Micah 6 unfolds in four movements. A summons is called as God sends out for his creation to gather as witnesses against Israel (Mic. 6:1-2). Once the court is in session, God, acting as the plaintiff, turns to the defendant and questions their charges against him. The evidence God produces is the salvation history of Israel. He rescued them from slavery and sent Moses to lead them. With so many marvelous works God performed for Israel, he shares just enough to shame and to quiet Israel (Mic. 6:3-5). They have no case against God.

Knowing they’re defeated, and to settle the suit quickly and quietly, Israel seeks to know what God really wants in recompense. Burnt offerings of a one year old calf? Sacrifices of a thousand rams with ten thousand rivers of oil? Is he wanting their firstborn (Mic. 6:6-7)? While Micah may be using hyperbole to make his point, it’s clear that Israel believes more ritual will satisfy God’s anger and atone for their sins. More ritual.

But God doesn’t want more offerings. No more empty rituals. In fact, he might be sick of their sacrifices.+ Instead, God calls Israel to model his own behavior. What God really wants from his people is found in three settlement requirements (Mic. 6:8).

* Seek Justice > not only are God’s people called to stand against sin and corruption (and to stop our own participation in it), but we’re called to defend and/or speak on behalf of those who are weaker and vulnerable in our society. So when individuals or groups are marginalized, exploited and/or abused, God’s people are called to bring balance to justice.

* Love Mercy > far from simply a call for compassion, mercy extends to action. Take that feeling and turn it into deeds. Here the Hebrew word, hesed, is the same word used to describe God’s Covenant Love he made with Israel. God’s people are to be committed to each other modeling God’s commitment to his people. Loving mercy is a stronger way of saying to follow the second greatest command: love your neighbor as yourself. 

* Walk Humbly > while many may view this as a “I come to the garden alone” moment, Micah saw this requirement as a combination of the first two, so that “seeking justice” and “loving mercy” is walking humbling with God. As the Apostle John might say, our love for God is in direct proportion to loving each other (see 1 Jn. 4:7-12).

People love a good courtroom drama, unless they’re at the center of the case. No doubt Israel was feeling uncomfortable being called into the courtroom by God, and even more so by turning a deaf ear to his settlement requirements. To be honest, so do we. How comfortable is it to ignore the need for justice and mercy, or worse to point fingers. We have a choice: we can take a risk “to walk humbly with God” as Micah defines it, or we can ignore our calling and simply wait for the day we’re summoned to appear in God’s courtroom.  

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e., only God is glorified!)

+The prophet Amos was a contemporary with Micah and he not only believes God hated their sacrifices, but he also called for justice as well (see Amos 5:21-24).

Posted on

My Name Is “5”

In 1963 Schulz introduced a new character to his Peanuts Gang, and his name was “5.” He had twin sisters named “3” and “4” respectfully (you can spot them in the famous dance scene of “A Charlie Brown Christmas”). Five’s full name was 555 95742, which was also his family’s zip code (placing him in Rancho Cordova, CA outside of Sacramento). His father, in naming his children numbers instead of names, was protesting, or at least surrendering, to the system of reducing human lives to numbers and statistics. Thus, the commentary Schulz might have been giving is that you’re more than just a number! 

As a child, Schulz’s humor often evaded me: what did Snoopy mean when he said, “I’m bad with names. Did he say ‘5’ or ‘V’?” As an adult trying to keep up with house numbers, phone numbers, bank numbers, insurance numbers, social security numbers, passwords, etc., Schultz’s humor is alive while his commentary is poignant. Note that his character was introduced during the sixties, when Social Security numbers were not assigned at birth. If anything, the numbering system has worsened in the past fifty plus years, and we tend to forget that people, faces, and lives stand behind the statistics and numbers society forces upon us. 

In one way, the healthcare in America is an example of how the numbers become more important than person they are servicing. When I sat in the examination room talking to my internal medicine doctor, an epiphany came to him and I told him, “You need to write book.” He looked at me with a puzzlement. He was beyond the age of retirement, but his body appearance was much younger. He walks with a bounce, and joy emanates from him. He’s a good doctor, and very good at his job. He’s wanted to walk away from medicine and into the less stressful life of retirement, but the hospital knows the value in having a good physician. For years they allowed him to reduce his work schedule and responsibilities in order for them to have the best doctor on staff. He looked at me and inquired, “What kind of book?” I responded, “I bet you made house calls as a young doctor, didn’t you?” He laughed and confirmed what I suspected. I continued, “You’ve see so much change in healthcare and, no doubt, you have stories. Never mind the advancement in curing diseases. You remember a time when the patient was a person you visited in their home, instead of running patients through your office doors like cattle to maximize the number of people you see.” 

There was a time when numbers were far less prevalent than today. Banks offered loans to customers based on loyal friendship, and less on a bottom line. Stores kept a tab knowing that customers, who were also their neighbors, would make good on payment when the crops came in. And doctors made house calls, in part to keep contagious diseases isolated, and in part because of the personal relationship doctors had with their patients. 

As Schulz seemed to have foreshadowed, our society is driven by numbers. Churches are far from immune. When consumers are reduced to a number, customer service erodes. When churches reduce membership to a number, or a ministry to a project, (i.e. the bottom line) the church devolves into a machine cranking out another product for the consumers to consume, use up, and then discard like a piece of junk. Serving one another erodes in the process.

Statistics are present everywhere, and even surface in the Bible. However, tension exists when the Bible addresses these statistics and numbers. Paul refuses to keep track of how many he baptizes (1 Cor. 1:16), while Luke freely records the number of those baptized (Act. 1:15; 2:41; 4:4). David sins when he instructs Joab to count his fighting men (1 Chron. 21:1-7), while the book of Numbers is dedicated to determining the number of people in Israel, especially the fighting men. While 5000 men present was far too many to feed, one boy’s lunch ended up being more than enough food for Jesus to feed, with twelve basketfuls for left-overs later (John 6:1-13). Some sort of balance must be reached in working with people; real people with real lives are behind the numbers often posted. 

Numbers aren’t everything, but numbers mean something. Churches track their numbers through attendance and contribution. Spotting trends, and knowing the ebb and flow of people’s decision to attend the assembly and to give their offering, are important for the leadership of the church. Growing churches usually realize that the larger the church grows, the smaller it must intentionally become, in part to avoid reducing individual members to a mere number. But when numbers become the defining moment for decisions, then we run into two moments of crisis. First, when decisions are made with numbers being the bottom line, then where is faith? Isn’t that the issue the disciples faced when Jesus fed the 5000? They saw the numbers, but Jesus challenged them to work out the problem beyond the number (Mark 6:37a). They failed. Could it be that Jesus was challenging the numbers mentality, and pointing them (or us) to act in faith beyond the numbers?

Secondly, when churches make numbers the bottom line, we’re simply mimicking society’s system of reducing human lives to impersonal numbers and statistics, instead of an active counter-culture approach to the numbers. The message sent is that we don’t care, and people no longer matter as a person. We just need to fill the auditorium or make the program a success. As one person reminded me once, “If church members don’t speak to me outside of the church building, then I know they don’t care about me.” 

I’m not sure if Mr. Schultz foreshadowed something or even foresaw the future. I’m pretty sure he was making social commentary on current events. That said, by introducing his readers to quirky kid named, “5,” by telling us his father was rebelling against the use of numbers, he was warning us about something. At least maybe in the church, people need to be prioritized over numbers. If not, we might as well assign a numerical value to each individual, and I’m not sure if we want to go down that road. 

bonum dolar!
(i.e., Good Grief!)

Posted on

Filled with the Spirit: Evidence that God Is Working in Your Life

The Holy Spirit is an active presence of God within the Church, and Acts witnesses to the role of the Spirit. When the 120 were gathered in the upper room, the Spirit came upon them like tongues of fire (Act. 2:1-4). When Peter met with Cornelius, he found the same Pentecost experience on the gentile (Act. 10:44-46). When the crowds asked Peter what they must do to be saved, Peter told them to repent and be baptized while God will forgive and offer his Spirit to them (Act. 2:28) which fulfills Joel 2:38-32 (e.g. Act. 2:17-21). Even a casual reading through Acts reveals that Luke is more concerned with the movements of the Spirit than he is about the movements of the Apostles.

Paul is no stranger to the place and role of the Spirit in the life of the Church or in the lives of Christians. While most are familiar with his Fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), his less known, but far from less important exhortation to embrace the Spirit, is found in Ephesians 5:18-22.

The structure is a contrast. On one side Paul encourages his readers to avoid a destructive and disorderly life of drunkenness and debauchery. Excessive and unhealthy indulgence in sensual pleasures leads to a harmful and detrimental end. Relationships, not only with each other but also with God, are ruined by investing in such behavior. On the other side, as an alternative, he encourages the Ephesians to ‘be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18). Of course the language is stronger than a simple encouragment, as the force is stated in the imperative.

What happens next is that Paul offers four ways where the Spirit is evident in the Church’s/Christians’ life. He does so with four participles (e.g., words ending in “ing”) with the force of commands. A Spirit filled life will produce the following.  

● Speaking to One Another . . . out of the gate, Paul looks at the horizontal role the Spirit plays among God’s people. Sure we sing, and we sing all kinds of songs, but we sing to each other. No doubt Paul has in mind the assembly in a home as song is used to bring everyone together and we engage each other in those closer quarters. In those moments our songs say something to each other (e.g., Col. 3:16).

● Singing & Making Music . . . building on the theme of song, the Spirit points us upward in praising God. No longer are we exhorting one another while we sing, we turn heavenward and through song extol God the greatness he deserves and demands. With the plucking of the heartstrings, not only are our voices accentuated, but our singing invests our entire being. We throw ourselves into singing.

● Always Giving Thanks . . . when November rolls around, we usually pause for a time of thanksgiving, but Paul wasn‘t talking about holidays. When the Spirit is activated in our lives we are a thankful people. We’re not only thankful for salvation, but for a salvation that continues to shape and define our living. We are appreciative and grateful for people and events that come our way.

● Submitting to One Another . . . before Paul addresses the relationship between husbands and wives (v. 22ff), he expresses the relationship within the Church and between Christians through mutual submission. When the Spirit fills people, no one demands their own way as my will now defers to others. Paul says elsewhere, “do nothing out of vain conceit . . . consider others better than yourself” (Phil. 2:3).

The Holy Spirit is an active presence of God with the Church and his witness is realized when God’s people are singing, greatly appreciative and willing to submit to each other. So turn the music up a little louder, look for reasons to be grateful and allow others to have their way. Who knows, but it may be the Spirit overflowing in your life.

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e., only God is glorified!)